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Soccer v. Headscarf: 0-1
Posted June 10th, 2011 by Lesley Hazleton
More absurdity this week: FIFA, the international governing body of football, banned the Iranian women’s soccer team from an Olympic qualifying event because the players wear hijab — Islamic headscarves. The official reason: safety. Wearing a hijab while playing “could cause choking injuries.”
Yeah, sure. As one commenter noted, Google “hijab soccer choking deaths” and the search engine doesn’t exactly hum.
These aren’t just any hijabs, mind you. They have to be the coolest ones ever. They’re like speed-skaters’ hoods, and the players look like white-clad ninjas. I’ll bet they can move like ninjas too. Clearly FIFA has no sense of style.
Correction: FIFA has no sense, period.
The decision to ban the Iranian team was made by FIFA head Sepp Blatter, who’s apparently one of those Berlusconi-type men who’ll tell you how much he loves women, by which he means how much he loves looking at female flesh. No, I’m not making assumptions. The arrant hypocrisy of this ban is clear when you consider the fact that Blatter proposed in 2004 that women players wear plunging neckines and hot pants on the pitch to boost soccer’s popularity. Tighter shorts, he said, would create “a more female esthetic.”
I guess it was kind of amazing he didn’t propose wet tee-shirts.
And if you believe that Blatter is for a moment concerned about women being injured, his response to requests by human rights organizations to take a stand against the sex trafficking that accompanies the arrival of the World Cup was this: “Prostitution and trafficking of women does not fall within the sphere of responsibility of an international sports federation but in that of the authorities and the lawmakers of any given country.”
No, Blatter’s all about the sport. He’s presumably salivating for more on-field celebrations like Brandi Chastain‘s famous shirtless moment when the U.S. won the 1999 Women’s World Cup. And drooling over women’s sportswear catalogs instead of Victoria’s Secret ones. In which case he’s pathetically misreading that Chastain photo. This was the victory of hard work and muscle over frills and pretty posturing. Serena Williams revolutionized women’s tennis in much the same way, making it a power game (in dress as well as style of play — the black catsuit she wore a couple of years back was dynamite).
What Blatter’s really doing is trying to piggyback on the burqa ban in France and the minaret ban in his native Switzerland. But the good news is that it’s backfiring on him. Badly. Already the focus of multiple accusations of corruption in his 12-year tenure as FIFA president, he probably saw this as an easy way to try to redeem himself by jumping on the anti-Muslim bandwagon. Instead, the storm of criticism might be an indication that Europeans are beginning to realize just how badly they’ve been manipulated by misogynistic xenophobes on such issues as burqa bans.
One further note on that shirtless photo: Chastain herself was amazed when it ran worldwide . “I wasn’t trying to make a statement; I was just carried away, and doing what male players do in the same situation,” she told me when I met her not long after. “I was really surprised there was so much fuss about it. I mean, there’s a much better photo of the victory moment, but nobody ran that one.” Here it is, on the right — the photo they didn’t run, baggy shirt, baggy pants, and all. Which I guess just means the world is full of Blatters.
(Thank to Sarah Hashim for alerting me to this story. I know I was born in England, but soccer’s not my thing. Tennis, though…)
File under: absurd, feminism, Islam | Tagged: Tags: ban, Berlusconi, Brandi Chastain, FIFA, football, headscarves, hijab, Iran, Islamophobia, Olympics, Sepp Blatter, Serena Williams, sex trafficking, soccer, tennis, women, World Cup, xenophobia | 8 Comments
Thank you for your insight and humor, and for posting this. Sanaa
kyo_9 says:
Pity for Iranian Women Soccer team..
But more pity when I heard that it was Bahrain who filed the statement during the match.. Funny when football meets politics and religion.. 😉
Adila says:
Interesting reading!
It is time other players on other teams refused to play if an injustice is done to other players on other teams such as in the case of the Iranian women. The old corrupt men who run FIFA should be embarassed by the athletes for whom the game exists.
Piotr Rozwalka says:
Lesley, thank you for this post. I was quite astonished too when I first saw this information few days ago. When researching the topic further, I found another interesting example of Jewish basketball player Naama Shafir (link below).
I wonder what really lies at the core of this issue. Firstly, we have Western world with its rather strict separation between religion and public life. Since the West has a lot of power over many spheres of international public life it enforces this value of separation on many various parties, being it Iranian footballers or Jewish basketball players. What is important I guess, is that in modern Christianity there is less artifacts which could be affected by such separation so we can accept it easier. But is not it a very effect of centuries-long separation in the first place? Secondly, we have cultures for which such separation is a very unusual concept due to completely different role religion plays in their societies. It seems that the West has no proper understanding of this role and those societies. Is not it the deficiency of modern understanding of cosmopolitanism – us, the West, imposing our values on other cultures in the name of vaguely understood human rights?
Here is a link to the story: http://www.jpost.com/Sports/Article.aspx?id=224734
Here is a great picture of the Iranian footballers taken after they heard the decision, I reckon: http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/254284_10150651695560657_805115656_19225931_1960693_n.jpg
Pity..they look so cool.
I thought diversity and inclusiveness was at the heart of international sport.
Noura says:
“They have to be the coolest ones ever. They’re like speed-skaters’ hoods, and the players look like white-clad ninjas. I’ll bet they can move like ninjas too. Clearly FIFA has no sense of style.” made my day. & by his sex trafficking remark, were you trying to imply that he’s a “consumer”? Cuz I just made a nasty connection. After all, if he’s not a “consumer”, then where do the thousands of trafficked persons go to instead if a Fifa head?
After the Game
Posted September 16th, 2010 by Lesley Hazleton
I’m bucking the “now” imperative and running a forty-year-old photo that was tucked away in the sports pages of today’s NYT. I’m running it because when I saw it, I just sat there gazing at it over my first coffee of the morning and knew that I’d begun the day right.
Taken just after Brazil beat England in the World Cup, it shows the two all-time greats of soccer, Bobby Moore and Pelé, exchanging jerseys:
I think it was Arthur Koestler who once fantasized that sports could bring nations together — an idea that became laughable with the rise of soccer hooliganism and the mad flag-draped patriotism and medal-counting of the modern Olympics. But this was one shining moment when who won and who lost was irrelevant.
Forty years ago, it was the black/white thing that people focused on when they saw this photo. Now, in 2010, some will probably focus on a perceived homoerotic quality. But here’s the thing: Forty years from now, in 2050, this will still be a moving photo, no matter what socio-political concerns of the time people bring to it.
What we see here is the art of living — the art of two people at the height of their powers, in full mutual respect, admiration, and friendship.
I wish there were more photos like it.
(You can read the excellent story behind the photo — on the photographer John Varley, who died last week — here.)
File under: art, existence, sanity | Tagged: Tags: Bobby Moore, Brazil, England, John Varley, Pele, photography, soccer, World Cup | 2 Comments
Thank you Lesley, for the picture & story, but mostly for your perceptive quote which I will put it up on my board to look at everyday…”What we see here is the art of living — the art of two people at the height of their powers, in full mutual respect, admiration, and friendship.” Something to aim for…
Pietra says:
Bravo! Lesley. If I can figure out how to capture it, I’d like to see it every day, too. P.
absurd agnosticism art atheism Christianity ecology existence feminism fundamentalism Islam Judaism light Middle East sanity technology TED TALKS ugliness US politics war women
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Guerschon Yabusele NBA Draft Scouting Report and Video Breakdown
Matt Kamalsky
@MKamalsky
Scouting Report by Matt Kamalsky. Video Analysis by Mike Schmitz
Among the more intriguing international early entrants for the 2016 NBA Draft, Guerschon Yabusele was one of the only players under the age of 21 to see significant action in the French first division (Pro A) this season. Averaging 11.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game for often outmanned Rouen, who were relegated to the second division after finishing just 6-28, the powerfully built forward became one of just three draft-eligible domestic players this decade to end the year averaging over 10 points and 5 rebounds per game, joining Ludovic Vaty and Mouhammadou Jaiteh.
Born in Dreux, a town of 30,000 an hour west of Paris, Yabusele spent the early part of his career with Roanne, playing exclusively in the Junior League (Espoirs). The thick power forward also played a minor role at a number of international events in his late teens, for example Team Africa at the 2013 adidas Nations, as well as France's U18 and U20 National Teams.
A bit of a late bloomer, Yabusele made his Pro A debut in 2013, but didn't see significant action at the senior level until Roanne was relegated to Pro B during the 2014-2015 season. Averaging 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game as a regular starter, Yabusele began to show some promising signs, albeit against less than stellar competition.
His jump into the collective conscious of NBA decision makers came at the 2015 EuroCamp, where, in front of representatives of every NBA team, including over a dozen General Managers, the then 19-year-old big man scored 20 points per game posting a PER of 48 for France's U20 National Team in three preparation games, thoroughly dominating offensively. Averaging a less impressive 9.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game at the actual U20 European Championship, Yabusele had nonetheless planted himself firmly on the radar of NBA scouts entering this season, as he made the jump back to Pro A, signing with Rouen (not to be confused with Roanne).
Measured on the NBA workout circuit in recent weeks at 6'8 in shoes with a near-7'2 wingspan and tipping the scales around 270 pounds, it isn't difficult to see what makes him an interesting prospect on first glance. Yabusele has a massive frame that appears to be able to gain and lose weight quickly, and though he is slightly undersized for a power forward, he compensates with his wingspan and nice explosiveness. What makes Yabusele unique, aside from his physical tools, is that he appears very comfortable playing facing the basket offensively and possesses terrific scoring instincts.
Playing a massive role for Rouen, especially down the stretch when he played all 40 minutes on a number of occasions, and enjoyed a huge amount of freedom, the talented big man did around a third of his scoring from the perimeter on spot up or pick and pop opportunities according to Synergy Sports Technology. Contributing in a variety of ways in the paint cutting off the ball, running the floor, crashing the boards, and even creating a bit for himself in the post, Yabusele wasn't overwhelmingly productive in any one area, but did a bit of everything offensively.
Perhaps the most intriguing element of the French forward's game is his jump shot. A reliable shooter with his feet set all the way to the 3-point line, Yabusele shoots a bit of a set shot getting very little elevation, but has a fluid release. He attempted just 1.8 3-pointers per game this season, but made 43% of his attempts and 43% of long twos. Understanding his limitations and shooting very few pull up jumpers, Yabusele seems to have some potential as a legitimate floor spacer, though it will be interesting to see how his shot (and two-handed above the head release point) translates to the NBA 3-point line.
Around the basket, Yabusele is a good, but not great finisher. Shooting 57% around the rim in the half court, the 1995-born forward tries to tear the rim down with dunks when he can elevate in space, and carves out good position bullying opposing players with his frame, but isn't particularly quick off his feet and forces some shots driving to the basket from the mid-post around defenders. Flashing solid footwork, Yabusele tosses in the occasional half hook spinning off of defenders, but has room to improve his left hand and shot selection inside.
Finishing in the top-20 in Pro A in offensive rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted, and setting some solid screens to free up teammates, Yabusele does some of the little things as well, but isn't overly physical despite his strength. He has a lot of room to grow as a playmaker, but also flashes solid vision at times. A fairly skilled offensive player with terrific hands who can even put the ball on the floor a bit, Yabusele has some interesting tools to work with offensively.
The challenge for the bruising big man moving forward will be on the defensive end, where Yabusele struggled mightily this season. Rouen was the worst defensive team in Pro A by a comfortable margin, so expectations were fairly low, but Yabusele did little to help matters, frequently seeming to be going through the motions. Lacking great lateral quickness on the perimeter and providing little rim protection, Yabusele's length and strength help him in the post at times when he's competing, but he has a number of significant questions to answer on this end. At this stage, the jury is out on what Yabusele could be capable of in a more demanding environment with a bigger focus on defensive coaching and conditioning. To his credit, he looked far more engaged and showed better feet in other settings than he did at almost any point this season.
Making huge strides over the last two seasons, Guerschon Yabusele is a strong draft and stash candidate who could find his way into the late first or early second round depending on his willingness to stay in Europe for another year (or two). His defensive ability is a huge question mark, but if he can make significant strides on that end, particularly as a rim protector, he could even feasibly have some potential as a small-ball center. He is a little green at this point, but there's plenty to like about his game moving forward.
Yabusele's contract situation is interesting. Rouen bought his rights from Roanne last summer. He has a NBA out clause for this summer, and his team was relegated to Pro B, meaning a change of scenery is obviously coming. If the team drafting Yabusele wants him in the NBA immediately then there is nothing to be seen here, but if a team wants to stash him in Europe this coming season, he'll need to find a way out of his current contract if he wants to move to a more favorable development situation, which may require some creativity.
Guerschon Yabusele PF
Ludovic Vaty PF
Mouhammadou Jaiteh C
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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > P > Paganism
Paganism, in the broadest sense includes all religions other than the true one revealed by God, and, in a narrower sense, all except Christianity, Judaism, and Mohammedanism. The term is also used as the equivalent of Polytheism.
It is derived from the Latin pagus, whence pagani (i.e. those who live in the country), a name given to the country folk who remained heathen after the cities had become Christian. Various forms of Paganism are described in special articles (e.g. Brahminism, Buddhism, Mithraism); the present article deals only with certain aspects of Paganism in general which will be helpful in studying its details and in judging its value.
Claims of paganism to the name of religion. — Influence on public and private life
Historians of religion usually assume that religions developed upwards from some common germ which they call Totemism, Animism, Solar or Astral Myth, Nature Worship in general or Agrarian in particular, or some other name implying a systematic interpretation of the facts. We do not propose to discuss, theologically, philosophically, or even historically, the underlying unity, or universal originating cause, of all religions, if any such there be. History as a matter of fact presents us in each case with a religion already existing, and in a more or less complicated form. Somewhere or other, some one of the human elements offered as universal, necessary, and sufficient germ of the developed religion, can, of course, be found. But we would point out that, in the long run, this element was not rarely a cause of degeneration, not progress; of lower forms of cult and creed, not pure Monotheism. Thus it is almost certain that Totemism went for much in the formation of the Egyptian religion. The animal-standards of the tribes, gradually and partially anthropomorphized, created the jackal-, ibis-, hawk-headed gods familiar to us. But there is no real trace of the evolution from Zoolatry to Polytheism, and thence to Monotheism. The monotheistic records are more sublime, more definite in the earlier dynasties. Atum, the object of a superb worship, has no animal equivalent. Even the repression of popular follies by a learned official caste failed to check the tendency towards gross and unparalleled Zoolatry, which was food for Roman ridicule and Greek bewilderment, and stirred the author of Wisdom (xi, 16) to indignation (Loret, "L'Egypte au temps du totemisme", Paris, 1906; Cappart in "Rev. d'hist. relig.", LI, 1905, p. 192; Clement of Alexandria, The Pedagogue III.2; Diodorus Siculus, I, lxxxiv; Juvenal, "Satires", xv).
Animism also entered largely into the religions of the Semites. Hence, we are taught, came Polyd monism, Polytheism, Monotheism. This is not correct. Polyd monism is undoubtedly a system born of belief in spirits, be these the souls of the dead or the hidden forces of nature. It "never exists alone and is not a 'religious' sentiment at all": it is not a degenerate form of Polytheism any more than its undeveloped antecedent. Animism, which is really a na ve philosophy, played an immense part in the formation of mythologies, and, combined with an already conscious monotheistic belief, undoubtedly gave rise to the complex forms of both Polyd monism and Polytheism. And these, in every Semitic nation save among the Hebrews, defeated even such efforts as were made (e.g. in Babylon and Assyria) to reconstitute or achieve that Monotheism of which Animism is offered as the embryo. These facts are clearly indicated and summed up in Lagrange's "Etudes sur les Religions e mitiques" (2nd ed., Paris, 1904).
Nature Worship generally, and Agrarian in particular, were unable to fulfil the promise they appeared to make. The latter was to a large extent responsible for the Tammuz cult of Babylon, with which the worships of Adonis and Attis, and even of Dionysus, are so unmistakably allied. Much might have been hoped from these religions with their yearly festival of the dying and rising god, and his sorrowful sister or spouse: yet it was precisely in these cults that the worst perversions existed. Ishtar, Astarte, and Cybele had their male and female prostitutes, their Galli: Josiah had to cleanse the temple of Yahweh of their booths (cf. the Qedishim and Kelabim, Deuteronomy 23:17; 2 Samuel 23:7; cf. 1 Samuel 14:24; 15:12), and even in the Greek world, where prostitution was not else regarded as religious, Eryx and Corinth at least were contaminated by Semitic influence, which Greece could not correct. "Although the story of Aphrodite's love", says Dr. Farnell, "is human in tone and very winning, yet there are no moral or spiritual ideas in the worship at all, no conception of a resurrection that might stir human hopes. Adonis personifies merely the life of the fields and gardens that passes away and blooms again. All that Hellenism could do for this Eastern god was to invest him with the grace of idyllic poetry" ("Cults of the Greek States", II, 649, 1896-1909; cf. Lagrange, op. cit., 220, 444 etc.)
Mithraism is usually regarded as a rival to nascent Christianity; but Nature Worship ruined its hopes of perpetuity. "Mithra remained", says S. Dill, "inextricably linked with the nature-worship of the past." This connexion cleft between it and purer faiths "an impassable gulf" which meant its "inevitable defeat" ("Roman Soc. from Nero to Aurel.", London, 1904, pp. 622 sqq.), and, "in place of a divine life instinct with human sympathy, it had only to offer the cold symbolism of a cosmic legend" (ibid.). Its very adaptability, M. Cumont reminds us, "prevented it from shaking itself free from the gross or ridiculous superstitions which complicated its ritual and theology; it was involved, in spite of its austerity, in a questionable alliance with the orgiastic cult of the mistress of Attis, and was obliged to drag behind it all the weight of a chimerical or hateful past. The triumph of Roman Mazdeism would not only have ensured the perpetuity of all the aberrations of pagan mysticism, but of the erroneous physical science on which its dogma rested." We have here an indication why religions, into which the astral element entered largely, were intrinsically doomed. The divine stars that ruled life were themselves subject to absolute law. Hence relentless Fatalism or final Scepticism for those sufficiently educated to see the logical results of their mechanical interpretation of the universe; hence the discrediting of myth, the abandonment of cult, as mendacious and useless; hence the silencing of oracle, ecstasy, and prayer; but, for the vulgar, a riot of superstition, the door new opened to magic which should coerce the stars, the cult of hell, and honour for its ministers — things all descending into the Satanism and witchcraft of not un-recent days. Even the supreme and solar cult reached not Monotheism, but a splendid Pantheism. A sublime philosophy, a gorgeous ritual, the support of the earthly Monocracy which mirrored that of heaven, a liturgy of incomparable solemnity and passionate mysticism, a symbolism so pure and high as to cause endless confusion in the troubled mind of the dying Roman Empire between Sun-worship and the adorers of the Sun of Righteousness — all this failed to counteract the aboriginal lie which left God still linked essentially to creation. (See F. Cumont, "Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain", 2nd ed., Paris, 1909, especially cc. v, vii-viii; "Le mysticisme astral", Brussels, 1909, invaluable for references and bibliography; "Textes et Monuments . . . relatifs aux Myst resde Mithra", I, 1899, II, 1896; "Théol. solaire du paganisme rom.", Paris, 1909.) We do not hint that these elements which have been assigned as the origin of an upward revolution have always, or only, been a cause of degeneration: it is important to note, however, that they have been at times a germ of death as truly as of life.
Social aspect
Christianity first and alone of religions has preached, as one of its central doctrines, the value of the individual soul. What natural religion already, but ineffectually implied, Christianity asserted, reinforced, and transmuted. The same human nature is responsible at once for the admirable kindnesses of the pagan, and for the deplorable cruelties of Christian men, or groups, or epochs; the pagan religions did little, if anything, to preserve or develop the former, Christianity waged ceaseless battle against the latter. As for woman, the promiscuity which is the surest sign of her degradation never existed as a general or stable characteristic of primitive folk. In China and Japan, Buddhism and Confucianism depressed, not succoured her; in ancient Egypt, her position was far higher than in late; it was high too among the Teutons. Even in historic Greece as in Rome, divorce was difficult and disgraceful, and marriage was hedged about with an elaborate legislation and the sanctions of religion. The glimpses we have of ancient matriarchates speak much for the older, honourable position of women; their peculiar festivals (as in Greece, of the Thesmophoria and Arrephoria; in Rome, of the Bona Dea) and certain worships, as of the local Korai or of Isis, kept their sex within the sphere of religion. As long, however, as their intrinsic value before God was not realized, the brute strength of the male inevitably asserted itself against their weakness; even Plato and Aristotle regarded them more as living instruments than as human souls; in high tragedy (an Alcestis, an Antigone) or history (a Cloelia, a Camilla), there is no figure which can at all compare, for religious and moral influence, with a Sara, a Rachel, an Esther, or a Deborah. It is love for mother, rather than for wife, that Paganism acknowledges (see J. Donaldson, "Woman in anc. Greece and Rome, etc.... among the early Christians", London, 1907; C.S. Devas, "Studies of Family Life", London, 1886; Daremberg and Saglio, "Gynæceum", etc.).
Essentially connected with the fate of women is that of children. Their charm, pathos, possibilities had touched the pagan (Homer, Euripides, Vergil, Horace, Statius), even the claim of their innocence to respect (Juvenal). Yet too often they were considered merely as toys or the destined support of their parents, or as the hope of the State. With Christianity, each becomes a soul, infinitely precious for God's sake and its own. Each has its heavenly guardian, and for each death is better than loss of innocence. Education, in the fullest sense, was created by Christianity. The elaborate schemes of Aristotle and Plato are subordinated to state interest. Though based upon "sacred" books, education in ancient times, when organized, found these highly mythological, as in Greece or Rome, or rationalized, as in Confucian spheres of influence. Both Greeks and Romans attached great importance to a complete education, supported it with state patronage (the Ptolemies) state initiative and direction (the Antonines), and conceived for it high ideals (the "turning of the soul's eye towards the light", Plato, "Republic", 515 b); yet, failing to appreciate the value of the individual soul, they made education in fact merely utilitarian, the formation of a citizen being barely more complete than under the narrow and rigid systems of Sparta and Crete. The restriction, in classical Greece, of education among women to the Hetairai is a fact significant of false ideal and disastrous in results (J. B. Mahaffy, "Old Gk. Educ.", London, 1881; S. S. Laurie, "Historical Survey of Pre-Christian Educ.", London, 1900; L. Grasberger, "Erziehung u. Unterricht im klass. Alterum", Würzburg, 1864-81; G. Boissier, "L'instruct. publique dans l'empire romain." in "Rev. de Deux Mondes", March, 1884; 3. P. Rossignol, "De l'educ. des hommes et des femmes chez les anciens", Paris, 1888).
Error in education was conditioned, we saw, by error of political ideal. No doubt, all the older polities were sanctioned directly by religion. The local god and the local ruler were, for the Semites, each a melek (king), a baal (proprietor), and their attributes and qualification almost fused. Or, the ruling dynasty descended remotely, or immediately, from a god or hero, making the king divine; so the Mikado, the Ionian and Doric overlords. Especially the Orient went this way, most notably Egypt. The Chinese emperor alone might pray to the Sublime Ruler whose son he was. Rome deifies herself and her governors, and the emperor-cult dominates army and province, and welds together aristocracy and the masses (J. G. Frazer, "Early Hist. of the Kingship", London, 1905; Maspero, "Comment Alex. devint Dieu en Egypte"; Cumont, "Testes et Monumentsde Mithra", I, p. ii, c. iii; J. Toutain, "Cultes paiens dans l'emp. rom.", I, Paris, 1907). It is hard to judge of the practical effects; obviously autocracy profited, the development of obedience, loyalty, courage in the governed (Rome; Japan) being undoubted. Yet the system reposed upon a lie. The scandals of the court, the familiarities of the camp, the inevitable accidents of human life, dulled the halo of the god-king. Far more stable were the organizations resulting from the subtle polities devised by Greek experiment and speculation, and embodied in Roman law. Aristotle's political philosophy, almost designed — as Plato's frankly was — for the city state, was carried on through the Stoic vision of the City of Zeus, of world-empire, into the concrete majesty of Rome, which was itself to pass, when confronted in Christianity with that individual conscience it would not recognize, into the Civitas Dei of an Augustine. Aristotle and Plato survived in Aquinas, the Stoic vision in Dante; Gregory VII reproduced, in his age and manner, the effective work of an Augustus. And of it all the soul was that Kingdom, Hebrew-born, which, spiritualized by Christ and preached by Paul, has been a far mightier force for civilization than ever was the polis of the Greeks. As long as the ultimate source of authority, the inalienable rights of conscience, and the equality of all in a Divine sonship were unrealized, no true solution of the antinomy of state and individual, such as Paul could offer (Romans 13 etc.) was possible. [Cf. E. Barker, "Polit. Thought of Plato and Aristotle", London, 1906, esp. pp. 237-50, 281-91, 119-61, 497-515; G. Murray, "Rise of the Gk. Epic.", Cambridge, 1907; P. Allard, "Ten Lectures on the Martyrs", tr. (London, 1907); Idem, "Les Persécutions" (Paris, 1885-90); Sir W. Ramsay's books on St. Paul, esp. "Pauline Studies" (London, 1906); "Paul the Traveller" (1897); "Ancient King Worship", C.C. Lattey, S.J., English C.T.S.]
In these systems, the weakest necessarily went to the wall. Even the good Greek legislation on behalf of orphans, wards, the aged, parents, and the like; even the admirable instinct of aidos which shielded the defenceless, the suppliant, the stranger, the "stricken of God and afflicted", could not (e.g.) stop the exposition of sickly or deformed infants (defended even by Plato), or render poverty not ridiculous, suffering not merely ugly, death not defiling. Yet the sober religion of the Avesta preaches charity and hospitality, and these, the latter especially, were recognized Greek virtues. In proportion as travel widened minds, and ideals became cosmopolitan, the barbarian became a brother; under the Antonines charity became official and organized. Always, in the Greek world, the temples of Æsculapius were hospices for the sick. Yet all this is as different in motive, and therefore in practical effect, from the "mutual ministry of love" obligatory within the great family of God's children, as is the counterpart of Christian self-sacrifice, Buddhist Altruism. (Cf. L. de la V. Poussin, "Bouddhisme", Paris, 1909, especially pp. 7-8, where he quotes Oldenberg, "Buddhismus u. christliche Liebe" in "Deutsche Rundschau", 1908, and "Orientalischen Relig.", pp. 58, 266 sqq., 275 sqq.) In slavery, of course, a chasm is cleft between Paganism and Christianity. By proclaiming the rights of conscience and the brotherhood of men, Christianity did for the slave what could never have been accomplished by demanding the instant and universal abolition of slavery, thereby risking the dislocation of society. In Christ, a new relation of master to man springs up (1 Corinthians 7:21; 1 Timothy 6:2): the Epistle to Philemon becomes possible. Yet while it is true that in many ways the slave's lot might be miserable (the ergastulum), and inhuman (the Roman slave might technically not marry), and immoral (Petronius: "nil turpe quod dominus jubet"), yet here too, human nature has risen above its own philosophies, laws and conventions. Kindness increases steadily: even Cato was kind; social motives (Horace), philosophical considerations (Seneca), sheer legislation (already under Augustus), devotion (at Delphi, slaves are manumitted to Apollo: contrast the beautiful Christian emancipation in Ennodius, P.L., LXIII 257; sentiment, and even law protected the slaves' tomb or loculus) answered the promptings of gentle hearts. The contubernium became parallel to marriage; nationality never of itself meant slavery; education could make friends of master and man ("loco filii habitus", says one inscription); Seneca generalizes: "homo res sacra homini; servi, humiles amici." But not all the sense of the "dignity of man", taught by the Roman comedians and philosophers, could supply even the emancipating principles, far less the force, of Christian equality in the service of God and the fellowship of Christ (H. A. Wallon, "Hist. de l'Esclavage de l'Antiq.", Paris, 1847; Boeckh, "Staatshaushaltung d. Athener.", I, 13; C.S. Devas, "Key en." (1906), 143-150 and c. v; P. Allard, "Les Esclaves chrét.", Paris, 1876; O. Boissier, "Relig. romaine", II, Paris, 1892).
Art and ritual
Omnia plena deo: the nearer God is realized to be, the richer the efflorescence of religious art and ritual; and the purer the concept of His nature, the nobler the sense-worship that greets it. Hence the world's grandest art has grown round Christ's Real Presence, though Christ said no word of art. Thus, heresy has always been iconoclastic; the distant God of Puritanism, the disincarnate Allah of Islam must be worshipped, but not in beauty. To Hindus, gods were near, but vile; and their art went mad. To the Greeks, save to a smaller band of mystics, whose enthusiasm annihilated external beauty in the effort after spiritual loveliness, all comeliness was bodily; hence the splendid soulless statues of gods (though for a few choice perceptions — Pausanias, Plutarch — the Olympian Zeus had "expression", and conveyed divine significance); hence their treatment of the inanimate beauty of Nature was far less successful and profound than was that of the austere Hebrew, to whom, in his struggle against nature worship and idolatry, plastic art was forbidden, but whose nature-psalms rise higher than anything in Greek literature. The pure new spirit breathing in the art of the Catacombs disguises from us, at first, that its categories are all pagan — though in human models little was directly borrowed, the Orpheus, Hercules, Aristeas type are given to Christ; strange symbols (the disguised cross, the dolphin speared on trident) occur sporadically; "pagan" sarcophagi were doubtless bought direct from pagan warehouses; most startlingly is the difference felt in the spiritual treatment by early Christian Art of the nude (E. Müntz, "Etudes s. l'hist. de la peinture et de l'iconographie chrétienne", Paris, 1886; A. Pératé, "L'archéologie chrét.", Paris, 1892; Wilpert, "Roma Sotteranca: le pitture, etc.", Rome, 1903).
Christian ritual developed when, in the third century, the Church left the Catacombs. Many forms of self-expression must needs be identical, in varying times, places, cults, as long as human nature is the same. Water, oil, light, incense, singing, procession, prostration, decoration of altars, vestments of priests, are naturally at the service of universal religious instinct. Little enough, however, was directly borrowed by the Church — nothing, without being "baptized", as was the Pantheon. In all these things, the spirit is the essential: the Church assimilates to herself what she takes, or, if she cannot adapt, she rejects it (cf. Augustine, Epp., xlvii, 3, in P.L., XXXIII, 185; Reply to Faustus XX.23; Jerome, "Epp.", cix, ibid., XXII, 907). Even pagan feasts may be "baptized": certainly our processions of 25 April are the Robigalia; the Rogation days may replace the Ambarualia; the date of Christmas Day may be due to the same instinct which placed on 25 Dec., the Natalis Invicti of the solar cult. But there is little of this; our wonder is, that there is not far more [see Kellner, "Heortologie" (Freiburg, 1906). See CHRISTMAS; EPIPHANY. Also Thurston, "Influence of Paganism on the Christian Calendar" in "Month" (1907), pp. 225 sqq.; Duchesne, "Orig. du Culte chrétien", tr. (London, 1910) passim; Braun, "Die priestlichen Gewänder" (Freiburg, 1897); Idem, "Die pontificalen Gewänder" (Freiburg, 1898); Rouse, "Greek Votive Offerings" (Cambridge, 1902), esp. c.v]. The cult of saints and relics is based on natural instinct and sanctioned by the lives, death, and tombs (in the first instance) of martyrs, and by the dogma of the Communion of Saints; it is not developed from definite instances of hero-worship as a general rule, though often a local martyr-cult was purposely instituted to defeat (e.g.) an oracle tenacious of pagan life (P.G., L, 551; P.L., LXXII 831; Newman, "Essay on Development, etc.", II, cc. ix, xii., etc.; Anrich, "Anfang des Heiligenkults, etc.", Tübingen, 1904; especially Delehaye, "Légendes hagiographiques," Brussels, 1906). Augustine and Jerome (Ep. cii, 8, in P.L., XXXIII, 377; "C. Vigil.", vii, ibid., XXXIII, 361) mark wise tolerance: Duchesne ["Hist. ancienne de l'église", I (Rome, 1308), 640; cf. Sozomen, Church History VII.20] reminds us of the occasional necessary repression: Gregory, writing for Augustine of Canterbury, fixes the Church's principle and practice (Bede, "Hist. eccl.", I, xxx, xxxii, in P.L., XCV, 70, 72). Reciprocal influence there may to some small extent have been; it must have been slight, and quite possibly felt upon the pagan side not least. All know how Julian tried to remodel a pagan hierarchy on the Christian (P. Allard, "Julien l'Apostat", Paris, 1900).
Morality, ascesis, mysticism
For an appreciation of pagan religions in themselves, and for an estimate of their pragmatic value in life, it should be noted that, in proportion as a pagan religion caught glimpses of high spiritual flights, of ecstacy, penance, otherworldliness, the "heroic", it opened the gates of all sorts of moral cataclysms. A frugi religio was that of Numa: the old Roman in his worship was cautissimus et castissimus. For him, Servus says, religion and fear (=awe) went close together. Pietas was a species of justice (filial, no doubt), but never superstitio. The ordinary man "put the whole of religion in doing things", veiling his head in presence of the modest, featureless numina, who filled his world and (as their adjective-names show — Vaticanus, Argentarius, Domiduca) presided over each sub-section of his life. Later the Roman virtues, Fides, Castitas, Virtus (manliness), were canonized, but religion was already becoming stereotyped, and therefore doomed to crumble, though to the end the volatile Greeks (paides aei) marvelled at its stability, dignity, and decency. So too the high abstractions of the Gâthâs (Moral Law, Good Spirit, Prudent Piety etc., the Amesha-spentas of the Avesta to be — Obedience, Silent Submission, and the rest), especially the enormous value set by Persian ethic upon Truth (a virtue dear to Old Rome), witness to lives of sober, quiet citizenship, generous laborious, unimaginative, just to God and man. Exactly opposite, and disastrous, were the tendencies of the idealistic Hindu, losing himself in dreams of Pantheism, self-annihilation, and divine union. Especially the worship of Vishnu (god of divine grace and devotion), of Krishna (the god so strangely assimilated by modern tendency to Christ), and of Siva (whence Saktism and Tantrism) ran riot into a helpless licence, which must modify, one feels, the whole national destiny. We cannot pass conventional judgments on these aberrations. It is easily conceded that pagans constantly lived better than their creed, or, anyhow, than their myth; blind terrors, faulty premisses, warped traditions originated, preserved, or distorted customs pardonable when we know their history: astounding contradictions coexist (the ritual murders and prostitution of Assyria, together with the high moral sense revealed in the self-examination of the second Shurpu tablet; the sanctified incest and gross myth of Egypt, with the superb negative Confession of the Book of the Dead). Even in Greece, the terrifying survivals of the old clithonic cults, the unmoral influence (for the most part) of the Olympian deities, the unexacting and far more popular cult of local or favourite hero (Herakles, Asklepios), are subordinate to the essential instincts of aidos, themis, nemesis (so well analysed by G. Murray, op. cit.), with their taboos and categorical imperatives, reflected back, as by necessity, to the expressed will of God. The religion of the ordinary man is perfectly and finally expressed in Plato's sketch of Cephalus (Republic, init.) whose instincts and traditions had carried him, at life's close, to a goal practically identical with that achieved by the philosophers at the end of their laborious inquiry.
All asceticism is, however, founded on a certain Dualism. In Persia, beyond all others dualist, the fight between Light and Darkness was noble and fruitful till it ran out into Manichæism and its debased allies. Certainly, from the East came much of the mystic Dualism, enjoining penance, focusing attention beyond the grave, preconizing purity of all sorts (even that abstention from thought which leads to ecstacy), which inspired Orphism, Pythagoreanism etc., and transfused the Mysteries. Till Plato, these notions achieved no high literary success. Æschylus preaches a sublime gospel: his austere series — Wealth, Self-sufficiency, Insolence, God-sent Infatuation, Ruin — has echoes of Hebrew prophecy and anticipates the "Exercises"; yet even his stern drasanti pathein is calmed into the pathein mathos — a true wisdom, repose, reconciliation. Even in this life Sophocles sees high laws living eternally in serene heaven, a joy for men of obedience. Euripides, in the chaos of his scepticism, lives in angry bewilderment, not knowing where to place his ideal, since Aphrodite and Artemis and the other world-forces are, for him, essentially at war. It is in Plato, far better than in the nihilist asceticisms of the East, that the note — not even yet quite true — of asceticism is struck. The body is our tomb (soma, sema); we must strip ourselves of the leaden weights, the earthy incrustations of life: the true life is an exercise in death, a homoiosis to theo, as far as may be; like the swans we sing when dying, "going away to God", whose servants we are; "death dawns", and we owe sacrifice to the Healer-hero for the cure of life's fitful fever; "I have flown away", (the Orphic magic tablets will cry) "from the sorrowful weary wheel" of existences.
Directly after Plato, the schools are coloured by his thought, if not its immediate heirs. Stoic and Epicurean really aimed at one thing when they preached their apatheia and ataraxia, respectively Anechou kai apechou: be the autarches, master of your self and fate. In Roman days of imperial persecution, this Stoicism, "touched with emotion", passed into the beautiful, though ill-founded religion of Seneca: all philosophy became practical, an ars vivendi: Life is our ingens negotium, yet not to be despaired of. Heaven is not proud: ascendentibus di manum porrigent. Ano phronein, St. Paul was even then enjoining (Colossians 3:1-2), echoing Plato's phronein athanata kai theia (Tim., 90 c), his tes ano hodou aei hexometha (Rep., 621 c.), his "life must be a flight" apo ton enthende ekeise (529 A), and Aristotle's doctrine that a man must athanatein eph oson endechetai (Eth. N., X, vii), written so long ago. The more acute expressions of this mystical asceticism were much occupied with the future life and much fostered or provoked by the developed Mysteries. Impossible as it seems to find a race which believed in the extinction of the soul by death, survival was often a vague and dismal affair, prolonged in cavernous darkness, dust, and unconsciousness. So Babylon, Assyria, the Hebrews, earlier Greece. Odysseus must make the witless ghosts drink the hot blood before they can think and speak. At best, they depend on human attendance and even companionship; hence certain offerings and human sacrifice on the grave. Or they can, on fixed days, return, harry the living, seek food and blood. Hence expulsion-ceremonies, the Anthesteria, Lemuria, and the like. Kindlier creeds, however, are created, and, at the Cara Cognatio, the souls are welcomed to the places set for them, as for the gods, at the hearth and table, and the family is reconstituted in affection. Hopes and intuitions gather into a full and steady light, even before the inscriptions of the catacombs show that death was by now scarcely reason for tears at all. The "surer bark of a divine doctrine", for which the anxious lad in the "Phædo" had sighed, had been given to carry souls to that "further shore" to which Vergil saw them reaching yearning hands.
But the Mysteries had already fostered, though not created, the conviction of immortality. They gave no revelations, no new and secret doctrine, but powerfully and vividly impressed certain notions (one of them, immortality) upon the imagination. Gradually, however, it was thought that initiation ensured a happy after-life, and atoned for sins that else had been punished, if not in this life, in some place of expiation (Plato, "Rep.", 366; cf. Pindar, Sophocles, Plutarch). These mysteries usually began with the selection of initiandi, their preliminary "baptism", fasting, and (Samothrace) confession. After many sacrifices the Mysteries proper were celebrated, including nearly always a mimetic dance, or "tableaux", showing heaven, hell, purgatory; the soul's destiny; the gods [so in the Isis mysteries. Appuleius (Metamorphoses) tells us his thrilling and profoundly religious experiences]. There was often seen the "passion" of the god (Osiris): the rape and return of Kore and the sorrows of Demeter (Eleusis), the sacred marriage (Here at Cnossus), or divine births (Zeus: Brimos), or renowned incidents of the local myth. There was also the "exhibition" of symbolical objects — statues usually kept veiled, mysterious fruits or emblems (Dionysus), an ear of corn (upheld when Brimos was born). Finally there was usually the meal of mystic foods — grains of all sorts at Eleusis, bread and water in the cult of Mithra, wine (Dionysus), milk and honey (Attis), raw bull's flesh in the Orphic Dionysus-zagreus cult. Sacred formulæ were certainly imparted, of magical value.
There is not much reason to think these mysteries had a directly moral influence on their adepts; but their popularity and impressiveness were enormous, and indirectly reinforced whatever aspiration and belief they found to work on. Naturally, it has been sought to trace a close connexion between these rites and Christianity (Anrich, Pfleiderer). This is inadmissible. Not only was Christianity ruthlessly exclusive, but its apologists (Justin, Tertullian, Clement) inveigh loudest against the mysteries and the myths they enshrine. Moreover, the origin of the Christian rites is historically certain from our documents. Christian baptism (essentially unique) is alien to the repeated dippings of the initiandi, even to the Taurobolium, that bath of bull's blood, whence the dipped emerged renatus in æternum. The totemistic origin and meaning of the sacred meal (which was not a sacrifice) wherein worshippers communicated in the god and with one another (Robertson Smith, Frazer) is too obscure to be discussed here (cf. Lagrange, "Etudes, etc.", pp.257, etc.). The sacred fish of Atergatis have nothing to do with the origin of the Eucharist, nor, even probably, with the Ichthys anagram of the catacombs. (See Fr. J. Dölger: ICHTHYS, das Fischsymbol, etc., Rome, 1910. The anagram does indeed represent Iesous Christos Theou Houios Soter, the usual order of the third and fourth words being inverted owing to the familiar formula of the imperial cult; the propagation of the symbol was often facilitated owing to the popular Syrian fish-cult.) That the terminology of the mysteries was largely transported into Christian use (Paul, Ignatius, Origen, Clement etc.), is certain; that liturgy (especially of baptism), organization (of the catechumenate), disciplina arcani were affected by them, is highly probable. Always the Church has forcefully moulded words, and even concepts (soter, epipsanes, baptismos, photismos, teletes, logos) to suit her own dogma and its expression. But it were contrary to all likelihood, as well as to positive fact, to suppose that the adogmatic, mythic, codeless practices and traditions of Paganism could subdue the rigid ethic and creed of Christianity. [Consult Cumont, opp. cit.; Anrich, "Das antike Mysterienwesen, etc." (Göttingen, 1894); O. Pfleiderer, "Das Christenbild, etc." (Berlin, 1903), tr. (London, 1905). Especially Cabrol, "Orig. liturgiques" (Paris, 1906); Duchesne, "Christian Worship", passim; Blötzer in "Stimmen aus Maria Laach", LXXI, (1906), LXXII, (1907); G. Boissier, "Fin du Paganisme" (Paris, 1907), especially 1, 117 sqq.; "Religion Romaine", passim; Sir S. Dill, op. cit.; C.A. Lobeck, "Aglaophamus" (1829); E. Rohde, "Psyche" (Tübingen, 1907); J. Reville, "Relig. à Rome, s. l. Sevèsres" (Paris, 1886); J. E. Harrison, "Prolegomena" (Cambridge, 1908), especially the appendix; L. R. Farnell, op. cit., and the lexicons.]
As strange historical phenomena, we note therefore the coexistence of the highest with the lowest; the sublime tendency, the exiguum clinamen, and the terrific catastrophe: human nature buffeted by the craving for divine union, prayer, and purity, and by the sense of sin, the need of penance, and helplessness of its own powers. Hence, savagery and blood attend the communion-feasts, grotesque myths accompany the loftiest ideals, sensual reaction follows flagellation and fasting. And we admire how, in the Hebrew nation alone, the teleological ascent was constant; sobriety meant no lowered aim; passion implied no frenzy. In the strong grasp of the Christian discipline alone, the further antimony of self-abnegation and self-realization was practically and spiritually solved, though theoretically no adequate expression may ever be discovered for that solution. As historical problems remain certain connexions yet to be more accurately defined between the "dress" of Christian dogma and rite (whether liturgical, or of formula, or of philosophic category) and the circumambient religions. As historical certainty stands out the impassable gulf, in essence and origin, between the moral and religious systems of contemporary Paganism, especially of the Mysteries, and the Christian dogma and rite, formed on Palestinian soil with extraordinary rapidity, and rigidly exclusive of infection from alien sources. [Cf. L. Friedländer, "Roman Life and Manners, etc." (1909-10), espec. III, 84-313; O. Seeck, "Gesch. des Unterganges der antiken Welt", I (Berlin, 1910), II (1901), III (1909), and appendices, B. Allo, "L'Evangile en face du syncrétisme palen" (Paris, 1910).]
This, we suppose, is the highest form of human reaction upon the religious datum of which the soul finds itself in possession, or at least may provide it with the purest, if not the most imperative, mode of worship. From this point of view the older rationalizing cosmogonies (as of Greece) are of little interest to us, save in so far as they witness already to that distinction between Zeus, supreme, and Fate, to which he yet is subject, an earlier unconscious attempt, perhaps, to reconcile the antinomies easily seized by true religious instinct in the popular traditions as to the gods. The mythological cosmogonies of Babylon and Assyria will, however, be of surpassing interest to the "comparative" student of Semitic religions. Noteworthy is the curve of Greek tendency — starting in Ionia, monistic, static, and anti-religious; grown dynamic in Heraclitus, whose Fire will pass, as Logos, into the Stoic system; transferred after the Persian wars to Attica, and profoundly dualized in Plato and Aristotle, whose concepts, however, of World-soul and of the Immanent Nature-force were powerful for all time. Through the Stoics, expressed in terms borrowed consistently from the exquisite Egyptian mythology, of Thot, of Osiris, and of Isis, this elaborate system of converging currents is synthesized in Plutarch, while from Plutarch's sources Philo had drawn the philosophy in which he strove to see the doctrines of Moses, and in terms of which he struggled to express the Hebrew books.
Thus was it that the Logos, in theory, impersonal, immanent, blindly evolving in the world, became (transfigured on the one hand by pagan myth, and by too close contact, on the other, with the Angel of Yahweh and the ideals of the Alexandrian sapiential literature) so near to personification, that John could take the expression, mould it to his dogma, cut short all perilous speculation among Christians, and assert once and for all that the Word was made flesh and was Jesus Christ. Yet many of the earlier apologists were to make great trouble with their use of Platonic formulæ, and with the Logos. Two principles emerge as governing Greek thought — God must have the first place, ou gar parergou dei poieisthai ton theon, — and yet the nearer we approach Him, the less can we express Him, theon eurein te ergon, euronta de ekpherein en pollois adynaton (Pythagoras, Plato). To how many answers tentatively given does Euripides's sad prayer witness: "O Thou that upholdest earth, and on earth hast Thy Throne, whoe'er Thou be, hard to guess, hard to know — Zeus, be Thou law of nature, or human thought of man, to Thee I pray: for Thou, moving in silent path, in justice guidest all things mortal." To the immanent, supreme Force, consciously exacting service, or, at least, blindly imposing obedience, Greek philosophy almost inevitably came, and, in spite of itself and its sceptical and mechanical premises, amounted to a religion. In the mouth of Epictetus God is still sung triumphantly — "What can I do, I, a lame old man, save sing God's praises, and call on all men to join me in my song?" — till the Stoic current died out in Aurelius, stunned to acquiescence, no more enthusiastically uniting himself to the great law of God in the world.
But into neo-Platonism, coloured with Persian, Jewish, and even Christian language, the movement passed; already, in the "Isis and Osiris" of Plutarch, a pure mysticism and sublimity of emotion barely to be surpassed had been achieved; in the "Metamorphoses" of Apuleius the syncretistic cult of the Egyptian goddess expresses itself in terms of tenderness and majesty that would fit the highest worship, and, in the concluding prayer of the Apuleian Hermes, an ecstatic adoration of God is manifested in language and thought never equalled, still less surpassed, save in the inspired writers of the Church. But all these efforts of pagan religious philosophy, committed nearly always to a rigid Dualism, entangled accordingly in mechanical and magic practices, tricked out in false mythology, risking and losing psychical balance by the use of a nihilist asceticism of sense and thought, died into the miserable systems of Gnosticism, Manichæism, and the later neo-Platonism; and the current of true life, renewed and redirected by Paul and John, passed into the writings of Augustine. [Consult Zeller, "Phil. der Griechen" (Leipzig, 1879), tr. (London, 1881); Idem, "Grundriss, etc." (4th ed., Leipzig, 1908), tr. (London, 1892); Gomperz, "Gr. Denken" (Leipzig, 1903), tr. (London, 1901); cf. Flinders Petrie, "Personal Relig. in Egypt before Christianity" (New York, 1909), unsatisfactory; J. Adam, "Religious Teachers of Greece" (Edinburgh, 1908); Dill, op. cit.; Idem, "Roman Society in the last century of the Western Empire", especially valuable as a picture of the tenacity of the dying pagan cult and thought; Spence, "Early Christianity and Paganism" (London, 1904); L. Habert, "Doctr. Relig. d. Philosophes Grecs" (Paris, 1909); L. Campbell, "Religion in Greek Literature" (London, 1898); E. Caird, "Evolution of Theology in Greek Philosophies" (Glasgow, 1904), "Evolution of Religion" (Glasgow, 1907); H. Pinard in "Revue Apologétique" (1909); S. Lebreton, "Origines du Dogme de la Trinité", I (Paris, 1910), where the summits reached by Greek and Hellenized Jewish religious endeavour are appreciated. On the general question: de Broglie, "Problèmes et Conclusions de l'hist. des Religions", Paris, 1889.]
Relations between paganism and revelation
Ethnology and the comparative history of pagan religions do not impose upon us as an hypothesis that primitive Revelation which Faith ascertains to us. As a hypothesis it would, however, solve many a problem; it was the easier therefore for the Traditionalist of a century ago to detect its traces everywhere, and for Bishop Huet ("Demonstr. evangelica", Paris, 1690, pp. 68, 153, etc.), following Aristobulus, Philo, Josephus, Justin, Tertullian, and many another disciple of the Alexandrians, to see in all pagan law and ritual an immense pillage of Jewish tradition, and, in all the gods, Moses. The opposite school has, in all ages, fallen into worse follies. Celsus saw in Judaism an "Egyptian heresy", and in Christianity a Jewish heresy, on an equality with the cults of Antinous, Trophonius etc. (Against Celsus III.21); Calvin (Instit., IV, x, 12) and Middleton (A letter from Rome, etc., 1729) saw an exact conformity between popery and paganism. Dupuis and Creuze herald the modern race of comparative religionists, who deduce Christianity from pagan rites, or assign to both systems a common source in the human spirit. Far wiser in their generation were those ancient Fathers, who, not always seeing in pagan analogies the trickery of devils (Justin in P.G., VI, 364, 408, 660; Tertullian in P.L., I, 519, 660; II, 66; Firmicus Maternus, ibid., XII, 1026, 1030), disentangle, with a true historic and religious sense, the reasons for which God permitted, or directed, the Chosen People to retain or adapt the rites of their pagan ancestry or environment, on at least, reproaching them with this, recognize the facts (Justin, loc. cit., VI, 517; Tertullian, P.L., II, 333; Jerome, ibid., XXV, 194, XXIV, 733, XXII, 677, is striking; Eusebius, P.G., XXII, 521; especially Chrysostom, ibid., LVII, 66, and Gregory of Nazianzus, ibid., XXXVI, 161, who are remarkable. Cf. St. Thomas, I-II, Q. cii, a. 2). The relation of the Hebrew code and ritual to those of pagan systems need not be discussed here: the facts, and, a fortiori, the comparison and construction of the facts, are not yet satisfactorily determined: the admirable work of the Dominican school (especially the "Religions sémitiques" of M. J. Lagrange; cf. F. Prat, S.J., "Le Codede Sinai", Paris, 1904) is preparing the way for more adequate considerations than are at present possible.
Whether Paganism made straight a path for Christianity may be considered from two points of view. Speaking from the standpoint of pure history, no one will deny that much in the antecedent or environing aspirations and ideals formed a præparatio evangelica of high value. "Christo jam tum venienti", sang Prudentius, "crede, parata via est". The pagan world "saw the road", Augustine could say, from its hilltop. "Et ipse Pileatus Christianus est" said the priest of Attis; while, of Heraclitus and the old philosophers, Justin avers that they were Christians before Christ. Indeed, in their panegyric of the Platonic philosophy, the earlier Apologists go far beyond anything we should wish to say, and indeed made difficulties for their successors. Attention is nowadays directed, not only to the ideas of the Divine nature, the logos-philosophies, popular at the Christian era, but especially to those oriental cults, which, flooding down upon the shrivelled, officialized, and dying worship of the Roman or Hellenic-Roman world, fertilized within it whatever potentialities it yet contained of purity, prayer, emotional religion, other-worldliness generally. A whole new religious language was evolved, betokening a new tendency, ideal, and attitude; here too Christianity did not disdain to use, to transcend, and to transform.
Theologically, moreover, we know that God from the very outset destined man to a supernatural union with Himself. "Pure nature", historically, has never existed. The soul is naturaliter Christiana. The truest man is the Christian. Thus the "human spirit" we have so often mentioned, is no human spirit left to itself, but solicited by, yielding to a resisting grace. Better than Aristotle guessed, mankind echei ti theion. For Christus cogitabatur. Aei ponei to zoon, said the same philosopher: and all creation groans and travails together until the full redemption; "all nations of men" were by God "made of one blood for to dwell on all the face of the earth . . . that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might grope after Him and find Him." They failed, alas, though they had the epignosis of God (Romans 1:32; cf. 1:19): the higher they went, the more terribly they fell: but, alongside of the tragic first chapter of Paul's Epistle, is the second, and we dare not forget that the elect people, the Eldest Son, the heir of oracles and law fell equally or worse, and made the name of God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles it contemned (Romans 2:24). Yet for all that, God used the Jews in his plan, and none will dare to say He did not use the Gentiles. They reveal themselves in history as made for God, and restless till they rest in him. History shows us their effort, and their failure; we thank God for the one, and dare not scorn the other. God's revelation has been in many fragments and in many modes; and to the pagan king, whose right hand He had holden, He declared: "For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou, thou hast not known Me: I am Yahweh, and there is none else; beside Me there is no God: (yet) will I guide thee, though Me thou hast not known (Isaiah 45:4 sq.). For still Cyrus worshipped at the shrine of Ahura.
APA citation. Martindale, C.C. (1911). Paganism. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11388a.htm
MLA citation. Martindale, Cyril Charles. "Paganism." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11388a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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History of Māori in Parramatta
Recently the Interpretations Team at the Heritage and Visitor Information Centre has been working with the Māori community to explore the history of Māori in Parramatta. The resulting publication Māori Trade and Relations in Parramatta reveals several surprising connections and relationships dating back to 1804.
Researched and written by Maarama Kamira it provides a fascinating insight into relationships formed between the visiting Māori and the newly arrived colonists which profoundly shaped Māori life on many fronts;
The most exciting piece of lesser known research was that Parramatta hosted the first international All Blacks Game in the 1890’s. The Captain of the team, Joe Warbrick sold his korowai or cloak to assist in his passage. He received the princely sum of four pounds for it. That cloak is now housed at the Australian Museum. To think, Parramatta was the birthplace of international rugby union!
Maarama Kamira
We encourage these stories to be shared with family and friends, far and wide to:
Strengthen understanding of Māori ancestors amazing entrepreneurialism
Raise wider Australia’s awareness that Māori have been part of the colony since white settlement
Support Māori living here to understand the long and lasting legacy to Parramatta/Burramatta and relationships with Darug and non-Indigenous people
Foster a Māori sense of connection to ‘place’ found throughout Parramatta
Spread the word that Māori ancestors lived, loved and thrived in Parramatta from 1804
The free publication is available online here. Hard copies are available from the State Library of New South Wales, National Library of Australia and libraries in New Zealand.
Michelle Desailly, Interpretation and Strategy Coordinator, City of Parramatta Council, 2016
Margarette maclennan on 25 May, 2017 at 9:51 am
Love to read this book
Anna Namuren on 20 December, 2017 at 10:20 am
You can download an electronic version of the book from the link below , Margaret, or view a copy at the Research Library in the Heritage Centre.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9iAn5sxT0i8LXZqN2U4WHc1Xzg/view
Research & Collection Services.
Paul White on 15 October, 2017 at 5:00 pm
The Harris family from Motukaraka and Mangamuka in the North of NZ is one of the largest Maori whanau in Aotearoa. We claim a connection to Parramatta as our ancestor Christoper Harris was born there in 1805. He was the son of William Harris and convict Elizabeth Taylor who arrived there in 1804. Christopher came to NZ in the 1820s. He had 13 children to his two Maori wives and he now has an estimated 20,000 descendants. Many have made the pilgrimage to Parramatta and thousands are now living in Australia.
Anna Namuren on 21 December, 2017 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for drawing our attention to the connections, Paul.
Leave a Reply to Paul White Cancel reply
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Gimme Your Answers: An Interview w/ Troumaca
Birmingham quintet Troumaca is comprised of Geoffrey Foulkes, Samuel Baylis, Tom Gregory, James Nayak, and Matthew Campbell. Troumaca excel at creating electronic-indie as layered vocals and airy synths flourish over mellow yet dynamic melodies. Troumaca’s first single Layou will be released August 12th, and their debut record The Grace is set for release on August 26th. To see what’s been keeping Troumaca busy, AMBY caught up with Samuel Baylis of the band to talk about lions surveying territory, filming at their local pool, and how a member is a reptile!
AMBY: Thanks for taking the time to speak with AMBY, TROUMACA! What’s the band been up to?
TROUMACA: Hi AMBY, what’s happenin,
We’ve recently finished recording our debut album – out August 26th! So, for the last month or so we were holed up in our studio most days/nights doing our thing, the process was great though because we demoed a mountain tracks then pick out the ones we were feeling, I’d say the album comes close to what we are trying to achieve.
Other than that we’ve been sipping on Guinness Punch, playing a few shows in between recording and now we’re prepping the live set for our festival shows.
AMBY: Your EP Virgin Island is outstanding. Which song off the EP is your favourite and why?
TROUMACA: Thank you! Wow, my favourite? I’ll go with My Love because on the EP it’s really laid back, but when we play it live it bangs!
AMBY: What’s the story behind your wicked song My Love?
TROUMACA: It’s about having sex and the dreamy hazy, bliss afterwards. We used an island paradise as the metaphor. Writing this down has made me realized how strange it sounds, but who doesn’t love the beach?
AMBY: Between the five of you, what’s the songwriting process like?
TROUMACA: What’s the songwriting process like? It’s like a Lion surveying his territory on the savannah, his pride in view, he glares at the setting sun as if to remind the amber god that this realm is his. His roar resonates through the grass and sings up to the advancing stars, they beat back, glowing in the gloom. For a moment you feel the silence, the infinite space that holds the universe together. And then, in the twilight, you hear the faint, terrible, rumble of drums.
That’s what it’s like in my mind at least.
What actually happens is we get a chord progression and melody together then we flesh out the track and draw out more of the vibe. Then when the mood of the track if solid we look at the lyrics. That’s been the process during the album sessions and it’s worked really well. It’s a rare thing to have five people all feeling the same way, and we feel blessed for that.
AMBY: Does hailing from Birmingham have an influence on your sound? If so, how?
TROUMACA: Yes, definitely. I think it’s impossible not to be influenced by your surroundings. The question is whether you fight what’s around you, or embrace it. We love the city, to soak it up and it seeps through into our music. It’s the home of Black Sabbath, Steel Pulse and UB40. There’s a wonderful mix of musical heritage and a rich underbelly of differing sounds. We are a guitar band that makes bass led electronic music, so we are definitely influenced by what’s around us. Also, we have the best accent in the country.
AMBY: The video for Lady Colour is really neat. What inspired the swimming pool idea?
TROUMACA: Why thank you AMBY. Lady Colour has a dream like quality, the melody floats along, and we wanted to convey that. So we shot it in our local pool. It was quite funny; the life guards were hanging around looking at us in a very bewildered manner.
AMBY: If you weren’t in a band what would you be doing?
TROUMACA: I’d be an architect, designing zero energy social housing.
AMBY: What’s the funniest thing to happen to you at a gig?
TROUMACA: We played a show in London recently, a nice intimate show and there was a group of girls we’d never seen before were at the front. About three songs in one of the girls smile became more intense and her friend was gesturing for her to get on the stage, so she did. No one noticed at first, probably because of the lighting and her strategically placed hair, but this girl had taken her top off. She stayed on stage for a while, just doing her thing. There were a few slack jaws at the front but she didn’t care. That was funny.
AMBY: If you could tour anywhere in the world, where would it be and who would you tour with?
TROUMACA: AMERICA! There are a lot of places we’d like to play and this year we are lucky enough to be doing a tour in France. But we’d love to play in the States.
AMBY: What’s your favourite release of the year so far?
TROUMACA: Inc. – No World. Neo Soul white boy R&B and it’s excellent.
AMBY: And lastly, what’s something about TROUMACA that nobody knows yet?
TROUMACA: Matthew’s a reptile.
Thank you Troumaca, for giving us your answers!
Facebook // Twitter // Website //
Gimme Your Answers: An Interview w/ IS TROPICAL
Song of the Day: “Donna”
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From the Streets to the Stratosphere: An Interview With “Space Artist” Invader
By Bucky Turco | November 4, 2013 - 03:26PM
“Sorry for the late response,” Invader wrote in an email to ANIMAL. “But as you know, I’ve been arrested by the NYPD and it made me lose a lot of time.”
He’s in New York promoting his documentary ART4SPACE and his latest body of mosaic tiles. The signature 8-bit artwork includes a whole host of nostalgia-inducing characters from Snow White to Princes Peach and Donkey Kong, among many others. On Thursday, in the wee hours of the morning, the Paris-based street artist was busted after affixing a tile mosaic to a residential building on Orchard Street and our interview with him was interrupted. ANIMAL caught up with him to talk about his arrest, work with COST and ENX and being labelled “a street artist,” as well as some tips for dealing with the NYPD.
How many invasions do you plan on doing in NYC while you’re here?
The most I can!
What’s the hardest part about putting up work illegally in New York City? Is it harder to avoid fans with camera-phones or the NYPD?
I try to be the most discreet I can be. But sometimes you have no choice. It’s like playing roulette at casino, you can win or lose!..
[LATER…] Three days have passed since I wrote these words and I have since been arrested putting a piece on Orchard Street. They tried to put pressure on me, when they brought me to the police station. A sergeant told me, “I hope that this arrest will be the end of your graffiti career!” and I was thinking, “You should arrest real bad guys and let me do my work which I consider as a gift to NYC.” I’m out now but they kept my cellphone and I guess the vandal squad is working on it now.
How do you choose your locations?
That is the hardest part of the invasion. I don’t have so many pieces because my mosaics are heavy and fragile, I have to find the best spots for them. It is like doing urban acupuncture! When it comes down to it, I’m very subjective in finding spots.
Do you do it all by yourself or do you have a team that helps?
Both. I need sometimes to have one or two persons with me. It can be helpful.
When someone vandalizes one of your tiles do you fix it? Destroy it? Let it be?
Generally, I let it be.
If a property owner decided to remove one of your tiles, wall and all, how would you feel?
If it is because he doesn’t like it, that’s ok. If it’s to sell it on eBay or to put it in his living room, that doesn’t make me happy. Street pieces are made for the street and for the people in the street to enjoy them.
What was it like to collaborate with COST and ENX?
I’m a huge fan of Cost and Revs. I even did a hyperrealistic sculpture of them a few years ago in one of my shows. Last week, I got in touch with Cost and his new partner ENX. In less than one hour, we had the idea to make a “Graffitile” — a graffiti made of tiles — and the day after we did it!
Will you be collaborating with any other legendary NYC artists?
None scheduled for the moment. There are a few artist I would love to collaborate with in NY like Bast, Todd James, Faile, Neck Face, Andy Warhol and obviously Revs.
As you know, Banksy is in town. Have you ever met him in person?
I met him a few times, but not in New York. About being here at the same time? It is just a coincidence. What he did in New York was a nice idea, and he did it pretty well.
I know this is a bit of a sore subject, but… is Thierry Guetta aka Mr. Brainwash really your cousin? Do you remain close to him? Do you have any hostilities towards Banksy for making your cousin look like a buffoon in Exit Through the Gift Shop or is there some sort of secret street art camaraderie that those outside of the circle will never understand?
Yes, Banksy’s movie is a real documentary and Thierry Guetta is really my cousin. We speak sometimes on the phone but I don’t see him so often because he lives in LA and I live in Paris. No, I don’t have any particular animosity about that.
How do you feel about being labelled a street artist?
It’s ok to me. I can’t deny it! Even if I don’t particularly like this kind of labeling. Now that I have worked in space, am I a space artist? You see… this kind of labeling is a bit ridiculous.
What in the hell inspired you send one your mosaics way into space?
I had this idea in mind for a while — to send a space invader back to space! I didn’t know how to do it, but was possible to do it in a very DIY way. The piece went in the stratosphere with a small camera and the images are so amazing that I decided to make a documentary about it. This movie represents one year of work and it shows a lot about me.
Are you otherwise interested in space?
I like the idea that we will soon live there.
At the ART4SPACE New York premiere, you appeared on stage wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. What was the significance of choosing that character?
That is the mask used by the Anonymous movement. In a way, I feel close to this movement and it’s a perfect mask to keep my anonymity.
Do you remain anonymous for legal reasons or for the sense of mystery or both?
What’s the upside of staying anonymous? What’s the downside?
The upside is that you can have a normal life. The downside is that you can’t go in a club as a VIP, but that is ok to me because I don’t like clubs.
Have you ever written graffiti? If so, what was the tag?
No, never.
Are there any tips you’d like to pass along to other street artists since your brush with the NYPD?
My main tip would be: Don’t get caught! Surprisingly, some cops might love you work, but they will still lock you up.
(Photos: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork, COST/Instagram, lostkaws/Instagram)
Tags: ART4SPACE, COST, ENX, Invader, Space Invader, Street Art
Goodbye to ANIMAL, Hello To Ratter!
07/28/15 - 11:11am
07/24/15 - 06:00pm
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Lobster industry pinched by tariffs
State Rep. Ann Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, said the trade wars are hurting not just lobstermen but other sectors of the seafood industry connected to it, such as processors, wholesalers, supermarkets and restaurants. “The lobster is commodity that feeds a chain of industries,” she said. “You’re talking about a supply chain of about five industries that…
Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante, of Gloucester, said in a June letter that the state’s lobstering industry “has become collateral damage in the Trump Administration’s trade war with China.” Ferrante has proposed a bill that would require state officials to prepare an annual strategic report for the state’s commercial fishing and shellfish industry. The evaluation would come…
Our view: Addiction’s most helpless victims
State Rep. Ann Margaret-Ferrante, D-Gloucester, a cosponsor of the legislation, told Statehouse reporter Christian Wade: “We’re living in a time where I think most people would agree that there’s more of a chance of a fetus being exposed to opioids than alcohol. We really need to have a discussion about what is happening to these…
September 5, 2019 Ann-Margaret FerranteHealth, News
$580K in budget earmarked for Cape Ann
The fiscal year 2020 budget also includes $580,000 in amendments authored by Tarr and state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, to fund Cape Ann initiatives in public safety, water quality, economic development, marine genomics research, the Blue Economy, as well as community celebrations in Gloucester and Essex. Read more on the Gloucester Daily Times website→
July 26, 2019 Ann-Margaret FerranteCulture, Arts, and Tourism, Economic Development, Education, Fisheries, Local Aid, Marine Science, News
Moulton, Ferrante: Trade war hurting lobstermen
In Boston, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester pushed for a hearing in Gloucester by a joint committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on the Trump administration’s trade policies with China “and its effects on the Massachusetts lobster industry and corresponding ports.” In a letter to the leadership of the Joint Committee on Export Development, Ferrante…
July 1, 2019 Ann-Margaret FerranteFarms and Agriculture, Fisheries, News
Lawmakers ask T to shelve fare hikes during Tobin project
A bipartisan group of lawmakers want the MBTA to shelve planned fare hikes until the Tobin Bridge project is completed, arguing that the higher fares will add to traffic woes by deterring commuters from using public transit. In a letter to the T’s fiscal control board, the lawmakers said the 6 percent fare increases, which…
April 10, 2019 Ann-Margaret FerranteNews, Transportation
Ferrante named to development post
State Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, elected last November for a sixth term of representing Gloucester, Rockport and Essex, was named the new House chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. The nomination from House Speaker Robert DeLeo and her election by the full House place her in a key role as the…
February 16, 2019 Ann-Margaret FerranteEconomic Development, News
Growing plants with goldfish: Eighth-graders studying aquaponics in new O’Maley BioLab
Amy Donnelly, the school’s science coordinator and eighth-grade teacher, and David Brown, O’Maley’s engineering specialist, spearheaded the lab’s creation. Funding was secured in 2017 with a $56,998 grant from the Massachusetts Life Science Center. Read more on the Gloucester Daily Times website→
February 5, 2019 Ann-Margaret FerranteEducation, Farms and Agriculture, News
Students to get a leg up on college, trades
For Gloucester school officials, it’s a chance to provide new opportunities for high school students. For those with the Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School, it’s a chance to widen access to their programs. And for workers in area construction and labor trades, it’s a step toward building for the future. Read more on…
September 26, 2018 Ann-Margaret FerranteEducation, News
House leaders propose tax incentives for Broadway-bound shows
Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante pushed for the amendment. She’s emboldened by what she calls a local theater renaissance, as evidenced by the national debuts of “Jagged Little Pill” at A.R.T. in Cambridge and “Moulin Rouge!” at the newly renovated Colonial Theatre in Boston. Read more on the Boston Globe website→
July 13, 2018 Ann-Margaret FerranteCulture, Arts, and Tourism, Economic Development, News
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Chastity Bono starts transition process
Filed By Bil Browning | June 11, 2009 4:30 PM | comments
Filed in: Entertainment, Transgender & Intersex
Tags: Chastity Bono, Chaz Bono, female to male, FTM, transgender, transition
Congratulations to Chaz Bono on his decision to transition from female to male. This is a deeply personal commitment that obviously isn't taken lightly and is probably made even more difficult by his celebrity. Bilerico Project family sends warm wishes and good thoughts his way as he starts his transition.
Bono, the child of legendary entertainers Sonny and Cher, began the process earlier this year, shortly after his 40th birthday
"Yes, it's true -- Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity," confirmed Bono's publicist, Howard Bragman.
"He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by his loved ones. It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his 'coming out' did nearly 20 years ago.
We ask that the media respect Chaz's privacy during this long process as he will not be doing any interviews at this time."
And congratulations to TMZ.com for correct gender usage. Even most mainstream news outlets screw that part up!
Waymon Hudson | June 11, 2009 4:52 PM
Congrats to Chaz!
MonicaHelms | June 11, 2009 6:36 PM
Chaz,
You will be in my prayers and my thoughts. May your journey be a full of beauty and wonderment.
Rob Barton | June 11, 2009 9:35 PM
Congrats to you Chaz. I hope that you read this post and I'm glad that you are taking this step toward yourself.
Rebecca Juro | June 11, 2009 9:37 PM
Congratulations, Chaz.
Zoe Brain | June 11, 2009 11:26 PM
Chaz was always a guy.
It's possible for a while if you're a straight male lumbered with a female body to pretend to be a butch lesbian.
But it doesn't fit. It itches. And the mismatch becomes more pronounced the older you get.
Eventually you realise that you can't keep up the pretence any longer. You stop fighting, and transition, no matter what the cost.
I don't understand men, be they gay, bi, or straight. But I do understand where Chaz is coming from. I understand transition, and the soul-searching he had to have done before embarking on this. The quest for his true identity. And I wish him every possible blessing.
Sean | June 12, 2009 8:50 AM
Chaz! Chaz meister! Chaz a rama ding dong! Dude! Welcome home to the frat bruh! Chazarenoramaaa....
C.B.!
Megabyte | June 16, 2009 12:59 PM
Congrats, Chaz - what bravery, especially given the public attention this will bring...
In other news, now we have to go out and check the articles for proper usage: looks like TMZ did well (though added little commentary on the release from the rep). I wonder about the phrase "becoming a man" - while it probably drives hits, is this generally considered a respectful phrase?
Setting that phrase aside, ABC News did (IMHO) a nice job, getting all the pronouns right or at least not intentionally wrong. Curious question: there's a line "when he came out as a lesbian" - would the fact that Chaz was presenting as a female at that time mean that you use the female pronouns/name there, or does the contemporary affirmed gender identity dictate? (I'd imagine this is probably personal, since I've seen it done with the mixed pronouns in a respectful way and seemingly no problem) Not looking for a "representative" of course, but opinions would be good to hear.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/CelebrityCafe/story?id=7817716&page=1
The AP, surprisingly (since don't they have a stylebook partially written by GLAAD that says not to do this?) refers to a "sex change" twice...
In a surprising turn of events (NOT!) FoxNews does the worst version of this news report that I've seen thus far - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525869,00.html
Yes, they changed the gendered pronouns in the news release to feminine ones - yikes!
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Global Warming and Bee Behavior
There are a lot of statements such as: "In the autumn the drones are evicted" or "drones are killed by the workers in the autumn." Are these statements still correct?
On December 14, 2006 the temperature in Grahamsville, NY was unseasonably high and I saw two unusual situations for this period of time: flying Italian and Russian drones and winter eviction of drones.
December 15, 2006 Eviction of Drones
Please click on the pictures to view clips.
Flying Drones(first 2 seconds)
December 14, 2006:
Flying Italian Drones
Winter Eviction of Drones
Possible Explanations:
1. Autumn supersedure impulse: bee colony keeps drones for a new queen. During the spring time, the old or defected queen will lay eggs and then the queen will be replaced by the bees.
2. Autumn queenless colony: bee colony keeps drones with the purpose to resolve this situation during the spring. Bees will steal eggs from other hives or will kidnap a flying queen from another colony.
Such behavior of bees was confirmed by Jim Kile of Woodbourne, NY. He is a part of American beekeeping history in the making - 70 years in the beekeeping business!
But these first two scenarios do not explain the situation when bees evicted more than 200 drones from 5 hives on December 14, December 15 and December 18.
Such unusual behavior of bees repeated on December 24th, 2006 and January 06, 2007.
Perhaps the bees resolved the queen problem during the months of October and November.
3. Global warming: unusual autumn blooming of flowers (goldenrods, wild asters) occurred due to warmer temperature. As a result, bees from five hives may have changed their behavior.
Boris Romanov
Some comments:
"As with many issues of honey bee biology and management, there is the 'text book' answer and then there is the messy reality of nature (as such, it is often said that our bees never read the text book!). While drones are generally evicted in the fall, colonies will not necessarily get rid of all of them. In fact, some beekeepers use drones and drone brood as a sign of colony health and nutritional state, even in the dead of winter. So much for the text book.
"As for your possible scenarios, it is unlikely that colonies keep drones around to mate with replacement queens, as such supersedure queens do not mate with drones from other hives and not those in their own hive (which would be their brothers). It is also unlikely that queenless colonies keep drones 'just in case' (although they may produce them if they have no queen) even if they could steal eggs from other colonies (which they cannot). As far as global warming is concerned, I wouldn't think that this is necessarily evidence for that. Rather, I think it is an excellent example of how plastic nature can be to take advantage of unusual environmental conditions and opportunities (i.e., unusually late or early pollen sources, etc...).
"My guess: you have some very healthy, strong colonies that were nutritionally able to keep their drones around longer than the text book suggests." David R. Tarpy, December 21, 2006
Assistant Professor and Extension Apiculturist
Department of Entomology, Campus Box 7613
Raleigh, NC 27695-7613 TEL: (919) 515-1660
"I am not confident that there is one or possibly even two or three possible reasons for the Drones you have been seeing as of this date right before Christmas, 2006. Drones are a biological imperative for a colony of Honey Bees. Drones are the means to keep alive that genetic component of the queen laying the unfertilized egg to share with virgins as they venture into a Drone Congregation Area (DCA). Drones are important but usually are first or second in removal or destruction when the colony is under stress because they are not strategically valuable enough to devote resources to retaining them under certain conditions. At this time of year we have several things going on that tell these Honey Bees that it is time to consider colony changes. One of these is the shortening of days as fall and winter approach. Honey Bees respond to this change in day length by producing physiologically different workers that are designed to last through a long cold winter for several months. Different winter drones are not produced. Loss of consistent nectar and pollen sources is another change for the colony as winter approaches either from the end of the flowering season or temperature restrictions that prohibit foraging by the colony. The colony’s genetic variability many times determines how aggressively they remove or cull out those individuals that are unimportant for overwintering. The Drones will die eventually even if not physically pulled out as the colony clusters to stay warm. The drones are not fed and succumb to cold temperatures as they are rotated out and excluded from the warmer regions of the cluster. Drones are fragile and the best thing they do is die.
"Now for your questions:
1. Unless there is pollen or nectar coming in drones are too easily raised to keep them over winter. In the South drones are tolerated through winter as there is generally always a little something blooming. In Florida we loose drones in the middle of summer as it is so hot that this is when we have a lack of flowers and no resources available. Drones are dragged out and worker and drone eggs are eaten to conserve resources.
2. Bees do not move eggs around or kidnap queens. I think it was just time in your region for the drag the drones’ impulse to engage.
3. If warming resulted in pollen and nectar sources then drones would be tolerated longer. Honey Bees are highly adaptable and flexible survivors. They exist just about from one Pole to another and every where in-between. If it is warmer or colder in your area they will respond accordingly without fore thought because their species have been through other “Global” warming and cooling periods as this happens regularly according to the record regardless of what the media says. They will be here long after we are gone." G. W. Hayes, Jr. December 21, 2006
Assistant Chief, Bureau of Plant and Apiary Inspection
Apiary Inspection Section, Division of Plant Industry
P.O. Box 147100 Gainesville FL 32614-7100, (352) 372-3505 ext 128
"I confess that I'm not sure whether or not workers actively evict drones in the fall, or when conditions become difficult. This is probably something that needs to be studied more closely."
December 21, 2006, Thomas D. Seeley
Professor of Biology and Chairman
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
Ithaca, New York 14853, office 607 254-4301, lab 607 275-9566
"The presence of drones in wintering colonies depends in part on location. Colonies in the south tend to hold more drones than colonies in the north. Certainly Russian colonies hold more drones than Italian colonies. However, stronger colonies and queenless colonies will hold drones. The books are also accurate. The average colony will purge itself of all or most of its drones in the fall."
December 21, 2006, Dr. Thomas E. Rinderer
January 06, 2007 Eviction of Drones
Unsuccessful drones eviction January 06, 2007
Click on the picture to view clip:
January 7-8, 2007: Finally, just before the arrival of winter cold, all remaining drones were evicted. In essence then, the behavior of bees did not change drastically. Drone eviction was merely delayed due to unseasonably warm temperature.
March 2007: First spring colony inspection showed that the queens were alive and were laying eggs. This evidence disproves one of the scenarios proposed above, which suggested that the drones were not evicted in the fall as a result of a dead or damaged queen.
December 2007: Late eviction of drones repeated this winter again! During the second and the third week of the month, approximately 100 Russian drones were evicted from one of the hives:
Hive #9 with Russian bees is here
In addition, on December 29, in the middle of the day, the temperature was unseasonably warm (15C/59F) and approximately 30 Russian drones were evicted from hive # 9 during the course of several hours. Perhaps this was the last massive drone eviction for this winter. Also, I would like to note that a cold front arrived on January 2nd, 2008.
I wonder if the bees anticipated the advance of extremely cold weather when evicting the drones?
"A bitterly cold air mass has taken up residence across the eastern half of the nation." (January 02,2008 - from Accuweather.com)
Very late (for my ares) nectar collection: November 10, 2015
Web www.beebehavior.com
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January – April 2019 Jan – Apr 2019
Colloquium Thesis Defense: Lauren Kahre
Extinction Mapping and Dust-to-Gas Ratios of Nearby Galaxies
Lauren Kahre, NMSU
We present a study of the dust{to{gas ratios in 31 nearby (D >
10 Mpc) galaxies. Using Hubble Space Telescope broad band WFC3/UVIS UV and
optical images from the Treasury program LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic UV
Survey) combined with archival HST/ACS data, we correct thousands of
individual stars for extinction across these galaxies using an
isochrone-matching (reddening-free Q) method. We generate extinction maps
for each galaxy from the individual stellar extinctions using both
adaptive and fixed resolution techniques, and correlate these maps with
neutral HI and CO gas maps from literature, including The HI Nearby Galaxy
Survey (THINGS) and the HERA CO-Line ExtraGalactic Survey (HERACLES). We
calculate dust-to-gas ratios and investigate variations in the dust-to-gas
ratio with galaxy metallicity. We find a power law relationship between
dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity. The single power law is consistent with
other studies of dust-to-gas ratio compared to metallicity, while the
broken power law shows a significantly shallower slope for low metallicity
galaxies than previously observed. We find a change in the relation when
H_2 is not included. This implies that underestimation of N_H2 in
low-metallicity dwarfs from a too-low CO-to-H2 conversion factor X_CO
could have produced too low a slope in the derived relationship between
dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity. We also
compare our extinctions to those derived from fitting the spectral energy
distribution (SED) using the Bayesian Extinction and Stellar Tool (BEAST)
for NGC 7793 and and systematically lower extinctions from SED-fitting as
compared to isochrone matching. Finally, we compare our extinction maps of
NGC 628 to maps of the dust obtained via IR emission from Aniano et al.
(2012) and find a factor of 2 difference in dust-to-gas ratios determined
from the two maps, consistent with previous work.
Categories: Colloquium Talks Thesis proposal Tags: 2019S ISM thesis defense
Colloquium: Dale Frail (Host: Sarah Kovac)
Multi-Messenger EM-GW Astronomy: The View from the Radio End of the EM Spectrum
Dale Frail, NRAO
Abstract: With the discovery of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from the binary neutron star merger GW170817, the era of GW multi-messenger astronomy has begun with style. I will describe the discovery, show where progress has been made in several areas, and then move on to describe a controversy regarding the origin of the afterglow emission. After explaining the importance of this issue, I will show how late-time radio observations have decisively resolved the issue. I will end with a discussion of the future, with an emphasis on the role of radio observations in finding and studying EM counterparts.
Categories: Colloquium Talks Tags: 2019S
Planetary Group meeting
Categories: Group meetings Planetary Group Tags: 2019S planetary group
Special Colloquium: Stella Kafka (Host: Karen Kinemuchi)
The AAVSO Program: A Resource for Variable Star Research
Stella Kafka, AAVSO
The AAVSO was formed in 1911 as a group of US-based amateur observers obtaining data in support of professional astronomy projects. Now, it has evolved into an International Organization with members and observers from both the professional and non-professional astronomical community, contributing photometry to a public photometric database of about 25,000 variable objects, and using it for research projects. As such, the AAVSO’s main claim to fame is that it successfully engages backyard Astronomers, educators, students and professional astronomers in astronomical research. I will present the main aspects of the association and how it has evolved with time to become a premium resource for variable star researchers. I will also discuss the various means that the AAVSO is using to support cutting-edge variable star science, and how it engages its members in projects building a stronger international astronomical community.
Dr. Stella Kafka, is the Director of the AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers). Before her tenure at the AAVSO, Dr Kafka held positions at CTIO, Spitzer Science center/Caltech, Carnegie Institution of Washington/DTM and AIP Publishing. The AAVSO is an international non-profit organization of variable star observers whose mission is to enable anyone, anywhere, to participate in scientific discovery through variable star astronomy.
Categories: Colloquium Talks Tags: 2019S variable stars
Colloquium: Jack Burns
Our Future in Space: The Moon and Beyond
Jack Burns, University of Colorado Boulder
Why do we explore space? How do we explore
space? Where should we explore? What are
the tools for space exploration? These questions will be addressed in this talk focused on
the future of human and robotic exploration of
the solar system and beyond. Since the end of
the Apollo program, the justification for the human space program has proven elusive. We will
borrow a page from the computer and new
commercial space companies to argue for an
inspirational approach to the next phase of
exploration beyond Earth orbit. The “how” is
addressed with NASA’s new Orion and Space
Launch Systems along with new launch systems being developed by private companies
such as SpaceX and Blue Origin. We will argue
that both the Moon and Mars can be explored
through a combination of governmental programs, international partnerships, and public-
private partnerships. The tools for exploration
include telerobotics where astronauts aboard
NASA’s Lunar Gateway in orbit of the Moon
will operate rovers and deploy telescopes on
the lunar surface in a new synergy between
robots and humans.
Categories: Colloquium Public Event Talks Tags: 2019S
Colloquium: Ylva Pihlström (Host: Moire Prescott)
A Masing BAaDE’s Window
Ylva Pihlström, University of New Mexico
Evolved, intermediate mass stars are tracers of an intermediate age stellar population. Due to high mass-loss rates, they harbor circumstellar envelopes, in which different types of molecular maser emission can be observed. The maser emission allows not only studies of the physical conditions in the circumstellar envelope itself, but also can be used to test Galactic dynamics. Both these facets are investigated in the Bulge Asymmetries and Dynamical Evolution (BAaDE) survey, using 28,000 SiO maser emitting stars in the Milky Way galaxy observed by the VLA and ALMA. I will give an overview of this survey and discuss a few of our results and challenges: A marginal flux bias exists in our sample due to two different sets of frequencies observed, which could partly be corrected for using longer integration times at ALMA. We have collected an extensive infrared data set for our sample, providing a means of modeling parameters such as bolometric luminosities and mass loss rates. Infrared colors further helps to separate C-rich from O-rich stars, and may also be tied to line ratios, tying back to the conditions in the circumstellar envelope.
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Foxx & Grothman, Sitting in a Tree...
Why did Rep. Virginia Foxx give $5,000 to the campaign of first-time Federal candidate, Wisconsin Republican Glenn Grothman? He won his recent campaign for Congress.
Of course, Virginia Foxx can give money to anyone she pleases, though according to the Federal Elections Commission, which is investigating newly elected Glenn Grothman's election filings, she can't give $5,000 to Grothman, at least not in the name of Foxx PAC, her "leadership PAC."
Definition of "leadership PAC": a legal way, set up by members of Congress, to make friends in Congress while also making money. It's our American form of high-level baksheesh.
Okay, the technical wrongness of the contribution to Grothman is just an understandable foul-up. We'll grant that. But the question remains: Why Wisconsin's Glenn Grothman?
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 12/30/2014 05:44:00 PM 1 comment:
Labels: Virginia Foxx
The Year the World Discovered Climate Change
Pope Francis has declared that 2015 will be the year of the climate, as far as he's concerned. He's gonna encyclicate about the need for a strong climate agreement at the Paris world summit next December.
And then there's this:
...The only group Francis has offended are climate-change deniers .... Here in the U.S., Catholic climate-deniers like House Speaker John Boehner will have to reckon with Francis' call. Evangelical Christians have already warned that they will protest it. “The pope should back off,” Calvin Beisner, spokesman for the conservative Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, said.
Ready for a throw-down over human activity v. the longevity of the Earth? Not many thinking people doubt that global climate change would be a sticky wicket. So let's have that fight. "In this corner, and wearing the hair shirt, Pope Francis, leader of 1 billion Catholics...."
My money's on the scrappy little Argentinian priest, and on the good sense of the majority of the people.
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 12/30/2014 05:19:00 PM No comments:
Labels: environmental issues, Pope Francis
Boone Prevails on ETJ Lawsuit
Wow. The three-judge panel in Raleigh has granted the Town of Boone's motion for preliminary injunction in the case challenging Sen. Dan Soucek's "local" law taking away Boone's ETJ.
The court acknowledged that the Town of Boone is likely to succeed on the merits in this matter.
So Boone's development rules will continue to apply in the ETJ past this Wednesday.
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 12/29/2014 05:52:00 PM 4 comments:
Labels: Dan Soucek, Town of Boone, zoning
Meet Gov. Squishy's New Message Man
Jimmy Broughton, who once upon a time was Sen. Jesse Helms's chief of staff.
He's being paid $130,000 per annum to try to control Pat McCrory's hyper-active mouth. He'll start on the job on January 5, way too late to help McCrory get free of the Tree.com $185K pay-out scandal, among other embarrassments.
Broughton's real job will no doubt include combing the political cockle-burrs out of McCrory's once shiny fur in preparation for the Westminster Dog Show of the 2016 elections.
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 12/28/2014 10:33:00 AM No comments:
Labels: Jimmy Broughton, Pat McCrory
BREAKING: 4th Circuit Finds NC's Anti-Abortion Law Unconstitutional
Hattip: Progressive Pulse
In a unanimous -- unanimous! -- decision released today, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked enforcement of the state’s pre-abortion ultrasound law, finding that it violates the First Amendment rights of physicians who provide abortions.
Labels: abortion rights
The Stubborn Facts vs. Governor McCrory
In a taped interview on WSOC-TV in Charlotte, Governor Pat McCrory made certain claims about his "ethics in government" record, specifically his Statement of Economic Interest, which he is required by law to file with the state's ethics office:
"I followed the instructions on all the questionnaires.""I've been very up front in my documentation."
"I have followed all the rules and regulations required of public officials."
And then Gov. McCrory told WRAL in Raleigh:
"We did nothing improper. We did nothing unethical. We followed all the rules of North Carolina."
"I've been filling those ethics forms out for 20-years."
"We have followed what the form requested. We have been very transparent."
But in fact:
Gov. McCrory failed to report ownership of Duke Energy stock on his 2014 Statement of Economic Interest (SEI).
Gov. McCrory failed to report over $185,000 of dividend income from Tree.com on his 2014 SEI.
And Gov. McCrory failed to report his membership position on the board of directors of Tree.com on his 2013 SEI.
Hattip ProgressNC
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 12/22/2014 09:03:00 AM 1 comment:
Labels: Pat McCrory
McCrory Gets Exposed, Has Hissy Fit
Why is this man laughing?
This was yesterday ... the Associated Press investigation uncovering the fact that Governor McCrory took $185,000 from a company his administration is supposed to regulate after he took office, and he didn't disclose the money when he had the opportunity to do so.
Apparently, the AP story stung, because the governor's office has issued four statements/press releases in the last 24 hours, all of them attacking the press for reporting what is indisputable. One of those press releases was a particularly immature, cherry-picking assault on the AP reporter which attempted to deflect the investigation by ignoring context.
ProgressNC late yesterday issued a fact-check of the governor's self-justifying press release, which, because of its detail, we choose to reproduce in toto here:
In response to AP report, McCrory continues to mislead the public
Governor blames the media instead of himself for report of questionable six-figure payout from controversial mortgage lender, offers misleading “fact-check” of AP story
RALEIGH -- On Tuesday, the Associated Press published an investigation into Gov. Pat McCrory’s $185,000 payout from a controversial mortgage broker shortly after taking office. Just 18 days later, McCrory appointed the director of the State Banking Commission as well as eight Banking Commissioners -- which raises red flags about why the payment was not mentioned on the governor’s ethics disclosure.
In response, Gov. McCrory took the tired approach of blaming the messenger and asking for more money instead of taking responsibility for his conflicts of interest and undisclosed payouts from Tree.com. He also released a “fact-check” of the AP story which attempts to further cloud an already-complicated issue and take the blame off of McCrory. That’s why Progress NC Action is “fact-checking the fact-checkers” to give you the real story -- not just the political spin from a desperate governor facing serious allegations.
[Note: Gov. McCrory’s claims are in italics and indented]
AP CLAIM: “McCrory and Sanford deny they did anything improper by accepting the payments from Tree.com, which were not fully described in their ethics statements.”
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: Governor McCrory properly filled out his ethics statement as required by law. That source of income was previously listed in another part of the 2014 SEI form; therefore, the form is in compliance with the State Ethics Act (See NCGS 138A-24A3).
The AP Report Includes the Specific Disclosures McCrory Failed to Make in Contradiction to his Claim it was Left out: “On his forms covering 2013, McCrory didn't disclose his $14,438 in fees and cash dividends from Tree.com. The forms specifically ask officials to include stock dividends and fees exceeding $5,000.” (AP, 12/16/14) Specifically, Question #10 of the 2014 Statement of Economic Interest directs filer to list each source of income over $5,000, and the question specifically lists dividends as a separate source. McCrory does not list receiving fees or dividends from Tree.com in 2013.
McCrory has Previously Admitted to Failing to Properly Disclose Duke Energy Interests on this Form. “On April 15, the day after his sales were complete, McCrory filed an ethics disclosure covering the 2013 calendar year that said he did not own Duke stock as of Dec. 31. That wasn’t the case… This week, McCrory amended the filing to reflect what it asks for, which are his holdings as of Dec. 31. Public officials who “knowingly” do not disclose information on the ethics disclosure form can face criminal penalties. McCrory signed the form as true. He had taken the State Ethics Commission’s required training on the ethics law in July 2013, according to records.” (News & Observer, 8/14/14)
AP CLAIM: “However, more than a dozen securities lawyers and ethics experts told The Associated Press that such stock payouts are uncommon for elected officials, and raise significant concerns. These experts gave differing opinions about whether laws were broken.
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: What “securities lawyers” and what “ethics experts?” Name them. Not one “expert” was named. These same “experts” said that such stock payouts are uncommon, but it's the standing board policy of Tree.com to make these payouts. Do these “experts” know that this was Tree.com's policy? Doesn't sound like it.
Cited Sources by the AP Article Include the Chair of the State Ethics Commission that McCrory Appointed and Jacob Frenkel a former Federal Prosecutor and SEC Senior Counsel. “George Wainwright, chairman of the North Carolina Ethics Commission, said he couldn't comment because the issue may become the subject of an ethics complaint.” (AP, 12/16/14)
“But ‘there is no question (this) raises a host of red flags for prosecutors and regulators,’ said Jacob Frenkel, who handled corruption cases as a federal prosecutor and served as senior counsel in the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement.” (AP, 12/16/14)
AP CLAIM: “AP reported that McCrory, a Duke retiree, held stock in the company as his administration made key regulatory decisions involving his former employer. Those decisions are now the subject of a federal criminal investigation.”
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: This is an outrageous accusation and this is absolutely incorrect – it is a false statement and was printed and published with malice. The AP is saying that the governor is under federal investigation and that is 100% false. Neither the governor nor anyone he hired has been subpoenaed as part of this investigation.
Over 20 Members of McCrory’s Administration Have Been Subpoenaed for a Federal Investigation as Reported by Numerous Sources Since February of 2014. “Federal prosecutors widened their investigation triggered by a massive coal ash spill in North Carolina, demanding reams of documents and ordering nearly 20 state environmental agency employees to testify before a grand jury. The subpoenas were made public by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday. They also ordered state officials to hand over any records pertaining to investments, cash or other items of value they might have received from Duke Energy or its employees… The 20 subpoenas disclosed by the state agency follow two Feb. 10 subpoenas, which were issued the day after a story by The Associated Press raised questions about a proposed deal between state officials and Duke that would have fined Duke $99,111 to settle violations over toxic groundwater contamination at two facilities.” (AP, 2/19/14)
McCrory Administration Hired Ex-Duke Lawyer to Represent Them in Coal Ash Investigation. “The lawyer hired to represent North Carolina's environmental agency during a federal investigation into its regulation of Duke Energy's coal ash dumps once represented the utility company in a different criminal probe. The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources has hired Mark T. Calloway of Charlotte to help respond to 20 grand jury subpoenas the agency and its employees have received after the Feb. 2 spill at Duke's Eden plant, which coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic sludge. Duke has been issued at least two subpoenas as part of that investigation.” (AP, 3/24/14)
Republican Lawmakers Claimed McCrory’s Agency Couldn’t Regulate Coal Ash Due to “ongoing criminal investigations.” “The House’s lead negotiator on the measure, Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, said the state’s environmental regulators can’t regulate coal ash directly because, ‘There’s ongoing criminal investigations right now.’ A federal grand jury is investigating DENR’s actions related to coal ash.” (News & Observer, 8/20/14)
Republican Senate Leader Sen. Phil Berger Claimed McCrory was Still Attempting to Shield Duke on Coal Ash Cleanup. “But Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, thinks McCrory’s true motive has more to do with Duke Energy. ‘The governor’s primary concern appears to be a desire to control the coal ash commission and avoid an independent barrier between his administration and former employer,’ Berger said in a statement.” (News & Record, 9/14/14)
AP CLAIM: “McCrory declined requests for an interview. In a written statement McCrory spokesman Josh Ellis said the governor fully complied with state law and "continues to uphold high ethical standards."
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: The AP reporter who wrote this story had dozens of chances to interview the governor. On one single occasion after letting the governor's office know about this story, he had 15 minutes of the governor's time with 3-4 other reporters where he asked two questions that weren't related to this story.
McCrory has previously “admonished” Reporters for being “disrespectful” when asked about conflicts of interests: “During the question-and-answer period after Friday's winter storm update, McCrory took exception to a reporter's question about whether he had communicated with Duke Energy or its lobbyists about his administration's intervention into those lawsuits. ‘I have had no conversations with Duke Energy about the lawsuits or about the federal action,’ McCrory responded. ‘I think some of the premise of your question is totally inaccurate.’ Visibly irritated, he added that he would ‘have [DENR] Secretary [John] Skvarla give you a call and make some of those corrections.’ Another reporter asked the governor whether his ownership of Duke Energy stock creates a conflict or the appearance of a conflict of interest for him. ‘In my 14 years as mayor of Charlotte and my one year as governor, I separate my job as governor, and I’m very proud of the job we’ve done as governor, and that regards to any company in North Carolina,’ McCrory answered. When a reporter attempted to follow up, McCrory shouted him down. ‘Excuse me, sir! Excuse me, sir! You have not been recognized!’ When the reporter tried again, McCrory admonished him, ‘It's no time to be disrespectful.’” (WRAL, 2/14/14)
AP CLAIM: “North Carolina officials are required to disclose their business dealings and their sources of compensation on annual ethics forms. Knowingly providing false information or concealing sources of income is potentially punishable by removal from office and up to eight months in prison.”
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: What the AP fails to mention here is that the governor did nothing wrong, nor has anyone accused him of doing anything wrong, and he fully complied with state ethics laws.
McCrory has Previously Admitted to Failing to Properly Disclose Interests on this Form. “On April 15, the day after his sales were complete, McCrory filed an ethics disclosure covering the 2013 calendar year that said he did not own Duke stock as of Dec. 31. That wasn’t the case… This week, McCrory amended the filing to reflect what it asks for, which are his holdings as of Dec. 31. Public officials who ‘knowingly’ do not disclose information on the ethics disclosure form can face criminal penalties. McCrory signed the form as true. He had taken the State Ethics Commission’s required training on the ethics law in July 2013, according to records.” (News & Observer, 8/14/14)
AP CLAIM: “In a statement, Ellis said that under state law, the governor wasn't required to disclose his cash compensation from Tree.com because he had disclosed his company stock holdings earlier on the form. As for the other omissions, Ellis said the instructions on the ethics forms were unclear.”
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: The governor answered the question (19a) correctly as it was plainly written. The State Ethics Commission recognized that the form needed to be changed and voted at the last commission meeting to rephrase the question on the 2015 SEI form.
The AP Report Includes the Specific Disclosures McCrory Failed to Make in Contradiction to his Claim it was “Left Out”: “On his forms covering 2013, McCrory didn't disclose his $14,438 in fees and cash dividends from Tree.com. The forms specifically ask officials to include stock dividends and fees exceeding $5,000.” (AP, 12/16/14)
McCrory Failed to Disclose Six-Figures in Dividends From Tree.com on Question 10 of the State Ethics Form, as Reported by the Associated Press -- it is Unclear Why he is Talking About Question 19a: Question 10 of the Statement of Economic Interest, reads, as plainly written, “List each source of income (not specific amounts) of more than $5,000 received by you, your spouse, or members of your immediate family during the preceding calendar year. Include salary, wages, state/local government retirement, professional fees, honoraria, interest, dividends, rental income, business income, and other types of income required to be reported on your federal tax return.” (NC Statement of Economic Interest, State Ethics Commission, emphasis added)
AP CLAIM: “McCrory also rebuffed calls earlier this year to disclose the full value of Duke Energy stock he owned following the Dan River coal ash spill.”
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: The governor properly disclosed what he was required to by state law.
McCrory Improperly Reported Conflicts of Interest Despite Having Completed Required State Ethics Training Explaining the Disclosures. “On April 15, the day after his sales were complete, McCrory filed an ethics disclosure covering the 2013 calendar year that said he did not own Duke stock as of Dec. 31. That wasn’t the case… This week, McCrory amended the filing to reflect what it asks for, which are his holdings as of Dec. 31. Public officials who “knowingly” do not disclose information on the ethics disclosure form can face criminal penalties. McCrory signed the form as true. He had taken the State Ethics Commission’s required training on the ethics law in July 2013, according to records.” (News & Observer, 8/14/14)
McCrory Refused to Disclose Specific Value of State or Timing of Sale. “McCrory will not say how much stock he owned. Duke Energy offers employees company stock among investment choices in its 401(k) retirement plan. The company’s top executives also receive stock grants as part of their compensation. Spokesman Tom Williams said he could not comment on how McCrory obtained his Duke stock. On Wednesday, a spokesman would say only that McCrory had sold the stock sometime between Feb. 14 and April 15. On Thursday, communications director Josh Ellis narrowed that. “The stocks were sold between April 9 and April 14,” Ellis said.” (News & Observer, 8/14/14)
AP CLAIM: “Despite his Tree.com payments, McCrory did not recuse himself from naming the state banking director in the weeks before receiving his special dividend, or from naming eight commissioners to the regulatory agency 18 days later. In addition to licensing mortgage brokers, the commission investigates complaints, which are kept secret under state law unless they result in discipline.”
WHAT THE AP LEFT OUT: The governor didn't need to recuse himself as per state law. Further, the governor re-appointed the chair, which was appointed by a previous Democratic governor, and he has over 40 years of banking experience. See what Governor Bev Perdue had to say about Ray Grace: http://www.nccob.gov/public/docs/News/Press%20Releases/Grace_nomination_press_release.pdf
“The second type of corruption that we must change however is a different type of culture is in that gray area. But I don’t think it’s a gray area in big government. And that’s an area in which we have a conflict – a climate of conflicts of interest.” –Pat McCrory (NC Coalition for Lobbying and Government Reform, 9/16/08)
ASU Research Centers Under Threat of Extinction
A six-person committee of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors (BOG) is weighing the fate of three research centers at Appalachian State University as part of a much larger review of some 34 centers across the entire University of North Carolina system. Savvy observers have noticed that many of the targeted centers study groups and issues that are anathema to Art Pope and the Civitas Institute.
All 32 members of the UNC Board of Governors were appointed by the Republican pooh-bahs in the General Assembly. The six-member "hit squad," drawn from those 32, are all Republicans, save one who is unaffiliated. These six people will issue recommendations next month, at which time the full BOG "could choose to validate these centers, cut their funding, roll them into existing university departments or disband them entirely."
"We have no political agenda," said the chair of the hit squad. (Dearest Mr. Chairman: We may have fallen off the turnip truck yesterday, but we didn't fall on our head.)
Three research centers at Appalachian State University are on the list of 34 for intensive review. Two are housed in the ASU College of Business: Brantley Risk and Insurance Center and the Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis. The third is much more central to the disdain of the Civitas Institute: the Research Institute for Environment, Energy and Economics, where there's a heavy emphasis on alternative energy and "sustainability," ancient bugbears to the market fundamentalists at the Civitas Institute.
We'll know in January just how free of "political agenda" the hit squad was.
Meanwhile, at other UNC institutions, research centers that focus on women, native Americans, poverty, economic equality, civil rights -- they're also awaiting their fates. As their missions seem "counter to the agenda of the Republican-controlled state legislature," as Sam DeGrave wrote, the personnel at those research centers might best be looking at job openings in other states that haven't yet turned backward.
Labels: Appalachian State University, Art Pope, Civitas Institute, North Carolina General Assembly, sustainable energy
McCrory Got a Big Sloppy Wet Kiss from a Crooked Mortgage Lender
This lead paragraph sums it up:
CHARLOTTE — Soon after taking office, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina accepted six-figure stock payouts from an online mortgage broker accused by regulators of deceiving its customers....
Don't you just love the smell of sweetheart deals in the morning?
But this is the "money graph":
In the months after receiving his $171,071 payout of stock from Tree.com, McCrory appointed the state's banking director and a majority of the banking commissioners who regulate mortgage brokers.
Some of Tree.com's payments to McCrory and Sanford weren't publicly disclosed until May 2014, when the company filed its 2013 year-end proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
McCrory is now dodging the press. Soon we'll be hearing about how he's out stepping on toes all over the place.
Posted by J.W. Williamson at 12/17/2014 10:05:00 AM 2 comments:
Labels: Mark Sanford, Pat McCrory
It's Now Open-Season on Boone's Steep Slopes
Last night the Watauga County Commission, under a new Republican chair Jimmy Hodges, voted unanimously to impose a 90-day moratorium on the former Boone Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) for the following types of land-uses only:
Electricity Generating Facilities
Propane or Gasoline Bulk Storage Facilities
Chip Mills
Chemical Storage Facilities
Fuel Oil Bulk Storage Facilities
Electric Substations
Cement Mixing Facilities
Commercial/Industrial development with aggregate building footprint 50,000 square feet or greater
Though many ETJ residents who spoke during the public hearing mentioned large college student apartment complexes as a major concern in their ETJ neighborhoods, the moratorium does not apply to large college student apartment complexes, nor to single-family and other multi-family residences.
Perhaps that's why there was no pushback at the public hearing from big developers. None of them are planning to build any of the above, when the big money is to be made from renting space to college students. Even Phil Templeton piously said he was in favor of this particular moratorium, because it clearly does not apply to what he has in mind.
Of course, this moratorium could be quickly mooted by the three-judge panel in Raleigh that is considering the town of Boone's legal challenge to Senator Dan Soucek's ETJ power-grab.
Labels: Dan Soucek, Jimmy Hodges, Phil Templeton, Town of Boone, Watauga County Commission, zoning
Jeb Bush Comes Out of the Closet. But ... Oh My!
Jeb Bush finally 'fessing up that he's "considering" a run for president ... the great promoter of Common Core.
Wait until the folks find out about how he's been laying the groundwork to create "a borderless international society" via Agenda 21.
Labels: Jeb Bush
David Horsey, LA Times
Labels: corporate power, Republican brand
Fat Cats Are Purring This Morning
Merry Christmas, Wall Street!
You rolled the president again, got rid of a part of Dodd-Frank in the "cromnibus" so you can once again take huge risks on derivatives and get a guaranteed government bailout when everything goes south. Sweet!
You bet that Virginia Foxx voted for The Omnibus All-the-Crap-You-Can-Eat Budget Bill. She does not buck the establishment. The rest of the Republicans in the North Carolina delegation voted "yes" too, except for Walter Jones (who does buck the establishment, regularly) and Mark Meadows, the tea-bagger from the NC-11.
Also voting "yes"-- and it's a puzzlement -- was Democrat David Price. The other three Democrats from North Carolina -- Alma Adams, G.K. Butterfield, and even Mike McIntyre -- voted "no." Since the Omnibus Crap Fest needed 218 votes and barely got 219, we've decided to blame everything on David Price. Or Virginia Foxx. Yeah, Foxx is better! The wicked step-mother of woe.
Maybe Price got one of those calls from President Obama last night before the vote. The president was "whipping" Democrats to get them to vote yes, according to Rep. Maxine Waters, along with J.P. Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon, who was also whipping Democrats. When it comes to Wall Street, you can successfully whip some Democrats with wet noodles, let alone with CEO Jamie Dimon.
The Democrat who comes out of this colossal cluster-f**k with her integrity intact is Elizabeth Warren, who highlighted what was transpiring and tried to rally the troops. Of course, the Senate will pass this bilge later today over her objections, but as a voice for the people, Warren's standing is only enhanced.
Labels: Alma Adams, Barack Obama, David Price, Elizabeth Warren, G.K. Butterfield, Mark Meadows, Mike McIntyre, Virginia Foxx, Walter Jones
NC Cities: Get Ready For Another Round of Torture
It is no secret that the Republican power-base in North Carolina in mainly rural. The cities generally vote Democratic, and the Republican-dominated General Assembly has shown every willingness to punish certain cities for that sinfulness.
Boone loses its Extraterritorial Jurisdiction. Check! Asheville loses its water system without compensation. Check! Charlotte loses its airport. Check! (All of these laws are being challenged in court, and their final disposition is unclear.)
Now comes advance warning that the General Assembly intends to redistribute sales tax revenues to benefit rural counties and starve the urban. From this morning's News&Observer:
RALEIGH — A redistribution of local sales tax revenue to benefit poor counties is on the agenda for legislative leaders preparing for the session that begins in January.
At a lunch Wednesday sponsored by the N.C. FreeEnterprise Foundation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown talked about shifting local tax revenues to help rural counties.
Shades of what Nathan Miller and the Watauga County Commission did to Boone last year. There's always spite and revenge running deep under any professed concern for the plight of The Rural, and there is a plight of The Rural that needs to be addressed. It just needs to be attended to without crippling the urban economic engine that lights the lights.
A comment posted on the N&O article highlights at least one irony:
If you redistribute income tax from the wealthy to the poor that is socialism and punishing the successful. But when you take money from successful counties and give to your poor county, that is considered good tax policy? Well no one said conservatives were consistent.
Labels: Asheville, Charlotte, Nathan Miller, North Carolina General Assembly, Town of Boone
Why Is This Woman Laughing?
Nicole Wallace was President George W. Bush's chief of communications, and now she's a regular panel member on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Yesterday, with the Senate Intelligence Committee’s so-called torture report still hours from public release, Wallace had an emotional tantrum at the very thought that anyone -- well, "liberals" mainly -- would object to what went on during her former boss's regime.
So Wallace led off her tantrum, waving the bloody flag of 9/11: "In the history of this country, I think months after 9/11, there were three people who we thought knew about imminent attacks and we did whatever we had to do.” Three people? Not according to the report. Wallace then did what every conservative does, invoked God on the side of torture and "American exceptionalism": “I pray to God that until the end of time, we do whatever we have to do to find out what’s happening.” It was “asinine” and “dangerous,” she added, to claim that systematic torture “makes America less great,” because God, as we know, supports everything our exceptional nation does.
All that matters, Wallace argued, is whether torture “help[s] us kill people who want to kill us.” But liberals, she complained, want to focus on “political correctness” — i.e., not committing war crimes.
“I don’t care what we did,” Wallace ended, thus admitting, inadvertently and unnecessarily, that she didn't know what she was even talking about.
I don't care what we did. That statement effectively sums up the public stance of her former boss, not to mention his cumulative intellectual acuity.
It also sums up, apparently and unfortunately, the limpness of the Obama administration's decision not to prosecute anything done during the previous administration, from bank fraud to "rectal feeding" of prisoners.
Let's bring I don't care what we did into the present tense: I don't care what we do. Obama pursues his drone-attack program, with all its lovely collateral damage, as though six, seven years from now another Senate Intelligence Committee report won't be detailing how heinous it all in fact was.
Labels: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, torture
Working Poor: You Can Expect No Help From Raleigh
Long, in-depth article published yesterday in the Asheville Citizen-Times delves into the politics of the minimum wage in North Carolina. Over half of the states have already raised the minimum wage (West By-God Virginia among them, for Christ's sake), but introduce that idea to the General Assembly in Raleigh, and all you get are icy stares and the occasional loud guffaw.
Not gonna happen in North Carolina, not with this current bunch running things, since their understanding of good ole American capitalism is that some people -- actually, many people -- need to be starving or at least perpetually hungry to guarantee a large and docile workforce to clean those toilets and mow those lawns.
Many cities across the land have also acted to raise their own local minimum wage, and some North Carolina cities, including Asheville, would love to follow suit, but as you should know, there is no "home rule" in North Carolina. All decision-making of any significance is centrally located in the General Assembly, which enables it to take away Boone's ETJ and Asheville's water system and to deny any North Carolina town from raising the local minimum wage.
Because Republicans believe in huge centralized power rather than local control. Because Republicans believe in the dignity of work and in a living wage. Because Republicans have the welfare of the little guy always uppermost in their minds.
Labels: Asheville, minimum wage, North Carolina General Assembly, Republican brand
The Governor Exhibits Some Body Language
McCrory; Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker, jumping ship; and John Skvarla
Could the Guv be any more uncomfortable? Photo WRAL.
Labels: John Skvarla, Pat McCrory
Interesting Smoke Signals Out of Raleigh
Breaking News: John Skvarla, the man Gov. McCrory put in charge of the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and who then subsequently presided over Duke Energy's coal ash debacle, is OUT at DENR and will instead take over the Department of Commerce, because his industrial toadying will fit in better there. McCrory never fires anyone. He just shifts them around in various jobs, hoping one of them will draw less press scrutiny.
Skvarla, incidentally, believes that oil/gas are renewable resources (yikes), and he's a climate change skeptic. He'll fit right in with the Commerce Department!
Meanwhile, over at the Department of Health and Human Services, and after 18 months of waiting since the General Assembly passed a new abortion law mandating stringent new rules on abortion clinics, the new rules have been published, and ... meh. Apparently, no clinics will have to close because of them.
Helmet-headed moral scold Tami Fitzgerald is outraged about the laxness of the proposed new rules, so you can bet that the General Assembly will get another crack at blocking off choices open to women. Guaranteed: abortion and women's rights will again be making headlines in NC in 2015:
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ proposed regulations were formally published in the state register Monday. That begins a process of public comment before the final regulations are adopted. If 10 or more people object, which is common with a controversial set of rules, then the General Assembly will have to make a final determination, and the abortion debates would begin again in the House and Senate.
Makes one wonder, though, if this isn't another one of McCrory's gestures of moderation. He had promised as a candidate that he would do nothing to make abortion more difficult in NC. Then he up and obediently signed the General Assembly's extreme new law. Now his DHHS goes all wobbly over the new rules.
Skvarla out at DENR ... abortion clinics allowed to continue in service ... what's next?
Labels: abortion rights, John Skvarla, Pat McCrory, Tami Fitzgerald
BREAKING: 4th Circuit Finds NC's Anti-Abortion Law...
McCrory Got a Big Sloppy Wet Kiss from a Crooked M...
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Market Comment - March 28
(Marco Bonelli) Real rally - fake rally, does anybody care?
The word "accommodation" is getting big attention these days and - like almost all other issues - experiences the whole range of interpretations. In most minds, it was the equivalent of QE3 and was assigned the responsibility for Monday's rally. Or maybe it was just the trigger or excuse to play the catch-up game in performance and secure one of the best first quarters in history, coupled with a little bit of short-covering from all those day-traders who - like many other market participants - expected a short-term pull-back.
But didn't we already see this pull-back? Sure it was short and by the time everybody talked about it earlier this month, the averages already regained the lost ground and even broke out to new highs. More specifically, after two weak days beginning of March, the Nasdaq showed the strongest performance among the major averages while the S&P 400 Mid-cap, Russell 2000 and the broad VGY Value Line Index were only slightly higher compared to a month ago. Since middle of February, the upside was clearly driven by a broad-based rally in financials, helped by technology and consumer stocks. The downside was dominated by the energy and basic material sector but also a wide range of cyclical sub-sectors only showed flat performance over the last six weeks. So yes, there was some consolidation and some industry sectors even experiences the 5 to 10% correction (semiconductors - surprised?), many traders predicted.
So are we good to go? The sustainability of the upside performance so far this week remains doubtful although the question, whether it's a real rally or a fake one cannot be answered, or let's put it this way: Like with almost all other issues, there is a whole range of interpretations - something that was, is and will always be part of the whole game, only that the current environment invites interpretations to all extremes even more.
Macro-economic data favors more the "fake"-side of the rally as per today, 15 out of 17 economic statistics were reported below average expectations. Today's Durable Goods Orders came in slightly lower but underlying inventory levels obviously increased to record levels, where you have to wonder, what happens to all stockpiles if the anticipated recovery and acceleration of demand doesn't materialize. Looking at the Dallas Fed and Richmond Fed Manufacturing Indexes from March, you also wonder how the assessment of the economic situation can deteriorate so sharply from the peachy outlook in February as both indexes showed sharp drops among all categories of the survey (which proves once again that all these indexes are mostly sentiment driven and a stock-market rally or a few positive articles in the newspaper make many managers feel "better" about the current situation and future outlook than without it). Or maybe it's real? Maybe strong quarterly results from LEN mirror the real state of the housing recovery and weaker February housing data (slowing home sales and housing starts) across the board and disappointing results from KBH is the wrong place to look!
Short-term sentiment (cautious) and performance pressure clearly favor a continuation of the rally in the short-term, however without a lot of strong data to back up a continuation of the rally, a re-evaluation of the real economic situation may have already started and more economic data and the famous earnings outlook for Q2 will decide about real or fake!
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TERA’s Kids+Chemical Safety website: On non-prof...
TERA’s Kids+Chemical Safety website: On non-profits, objectivity and independence
« Chemicals R Us: New ACC-sponsored website says chemicals are safe and fun for kids!
Variety is the spice of … accurate chemical testing »
By Richard Denison / Bio / Published: December 21, 2012
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
My recent post about the new American Chemistry Council (ACC)-sponsored website, Kids + Chemical Safety, engendered some comments that go directly to the issues of scientific objectivity and independence.
The website says “TERA [Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, manager of the site] was founded on the belief that an independent non-profit organization can provide a unique function to protect human health by conducting scientific research and development on risk issues in a transparent and collaborative fashion and communicating the results widely.” The “non-profit” descriptor – which TERA uses to describe itself no fewer than eight times on the site, including four times on this one page alone – seems intended to convey that TERA provides information that is purely objective and that it operates in a manner that is independent of who pays it to do its work.
It’s critical to recognize that being a non-profit does not conflate to, or somehow confer the right to claim, objectivity or independence. The National Rifle Association is a non-profit that clearly has strongly held and expressed opinions. EDF is also a non-profit, but I don’t pretend, as does TERA, that we don’t have a particular perspective and position.
So putting the issue of non-profit status entirely aside, we should judge TERA’s claim that its website provides information that is objective and independent based on its content, and that’s where it becomes quite clear that the information is neither.
There are two categories of information provided on the website: 1) topics that are largely outside of the vested interests of the site’s most prominent sponsor, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), and of its member companies; and 2) topics that fall squarely within those vested interests. These categories are treated very differently on the website.
Examples in the first category include pieces addressing lead-based paint in old houses, choking hazards posed by some toys, carbon monoxide poisoning risks in the home, and a new timely piece on minimizing hazards to children during the holiday season. These pieces largely deal with legacy contamination, physical rather than chemical hazards, natural hazards posed by certain foods and plants, and incidental contaminants from malfunctioning furnaces or improper home use of equipment that uses fuels. While all of these risks warrant the attention of parents, they are also quite conspicuous in being far removed from the financial interests of the chemical industry. The essays appear to be reasonably objective, are written mainly by staff at the Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information Center, and point to how serious the risks are and how important it is that they be addressed.
Then there are the other topics covered on the site that do touch directly on chemical risks. Many of these are in the headlines and involve issues in which the chemical and related industries have enormous financial stakes. These address whether chemicals in toys pose risks to children, whether organic food is safer, and asthma and its causes. These topics are treated wholly differently by TERA.
First, these essays are all written either by TERA staff or by staff from other chemical industry consulting firms, such as Exponent, that have a long track record of helping chemical companies avoid regulation. Second, they bend over backward to “put those hazards into context,” noting that many chemicals posing risks are naturally occurring and emphasizing risk factors other than chemicals. Third, they tout the efforts and money expended by companies to ensure the safety of their products, and maintain that extensive regulations are more than adequate to address the problem. Fourth, they ignore or seek to minimize research findings indicating potential or actual risk. Finally, they seek to shift responsibility for ensuring safety to the consumer or parent and away from manufacturers of chemicals or products containing chemicals at issue.
The piece on chemicals in toys is a case in point. Written by two scientists from Exponent, the main advice it offers is this: “The key things parents can do to minimize exposure to their children is to carefully select the toys they play with and follow the warning, if any, on the label.” That’s a handy shift in responsibility away from minimizing the presence of hazardous chemicals in such toys. Here’s the advice offered:
Parents need to consider two things: can the chemicals in the toy result in an exposure, and is this exposure associated with a health risk. In toxicology, this is described in the following equation:
Risk = Exposure x Hazard
In other words, it is important to consider not just the chemical levels in the toy, but also whether they can cause an exposure above a safe level.
How, then, is a parent to understand the risk, say, of their child playing with a toy that contains a phthalate plasticizer? For starters, the chemical won’t be listed on the label. Are these industry scientists really content telling parents they need not worry that a chemical known or suspected to cause development abnormalities is deliberately added to a toy by its manufacturer? And that the keys to their child being able to use the toy safely lie, not in ensuring such chemicals aren’t used in toys, but rather in parents reading the label, minimizing the amount of time the child puts the toy in his or her mouth, and “washing the child’s hands after use”?
As I said in my last post, the new website is very clever. The intermixing of relatively objective pieces written by more independent experts with propaganda pieces written by consultants to the chemical industry is the modern version of the salesman’s classic bait-and-switch.
The remainder of the content of the site – pieces touting risk assessment and peer review – parrots longstanding industry talking points such as how even water is risky at high enough doses. It also reveals the double standards that industry proponents offer up as common fare in debates over chemical safety. To cite but one of many examples, after vociferously arguing that only peer-reviewed studies of chemicals should be deemed credible, the essay on asthma categorically dismisses a large body of peer-reviewed studies linking chemical exposures to asthma and related conditions.
Moreover, the basis on which these studies are dismissed is a spurious argument: that in such studies, “animals are frequently exposed to extremely high concentrations, which do not represent our everyday exposures.” Put aside the fact that the website elsewhere discusses the need to rely on animal studies, and that industry routinely uses the results of such studies to influence regulatory decisions.
Conveniently omitted from this simplistic rendition is the longstanding scientific reason for why toxicologists typically use high doses of chemicals in studies using laboratory animals: Because a) we cannot for ethical reasons test chemicals directly on people, b) lab animals live far shorter lives than do we humans, and c) it is too costly and impractical (and unethical) to use large enough numbers of lab animals in a study to model the human population, such doses are used to ensure that a study will detect an effect, if one occurs, in a relatively short time and in a relatively small number of animals. While there are legitimate scientific debates as to whether such studies may actually obscure or miss effects that occur at low doses of exposure, resorting to such overly simplistic rhetoric does a disservice to the public discourse and reflects an underlying bias that permeates the website.
Why do I question TERA’s independence from its heavy reliance on funding from the chemical and related industries, including for this website? Given its long track record, if TERA were truly independent, it should be able to provide a long list of studies, comments filed with regulatory agencies and other documents wherein it proffers a conclusion or position that is in opposition to those taken by the parties who funded those studies or comments. I have yet to see such a case.
I would have no beef with TERA’s website if it described itself as what it is: a source of information that reflects its own or the industry’s positions and perspective, and is intended to provide a counterpoint to what parents or consumers may be hearing from others, EDF included. I will be the first to acknowledge there are (at least) two sides to this debate.
But it is simply unacceptable for TERA to make the eerily Fox News-like claim that the site is our “best source of balanced, scientifically accurate chemical health information.”
Chemicals R Us: New ACC-sponsored website says chemicals are safe and fun for kids!
Shifting the burden for toxics with a sneaky website: one more reason Dourson shouldn’t lead EPA toxics office
Why can’t ACC tell the truth about the Safe Chemicals Act?
This entry was posted in Health Policy, Health Science, Industry Influence and tagged American Chemistry Council (ACC), children's safety, consumer products, Dourson, front group, industry tactics, risk assessment. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
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Escape gene name-mangling with ‘Escape Excel’
27 Feb 2017 | 13:00 GMT | Posted by Jeffrey Perkel | Category: Blog, Technology
It’s been nearly a decade since Eric Welsh first noticed some weirdness with Microsoft Excel. A senior staff scientist in the Cancer Informatics Core at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, Welsh was using Microsoft’s venerable spreadsheet application to view mouse and human gene expression data, the better to sort and understand the numbers. But a quick glance revealed the import hadn’t gone exactly as planned. “Excel would screw them up every time,” he says.
How so? When data are imported into Excel, the program works hard to figure out what kind of value each cell holds. Most of the time, Excel is smart enough to do that correctly, and values like ‘BRCA1’ and ‘12345’ are converted into text and integers, as expected. But “Excel is a little too smart for its own good,” Welsh says. If a cell reads “SEPT7,” the program assumes the author meant to write a date, and converts it automatically. It also sometimes translates what appear be numbers in scientific notation – say, ‘2310009E13’ – into actual scientific notation (‘2.31E+13’). The problem is, those two terms are neither dates nor numbers – they are proper names, scientifically speaking: gene names, sample identifiers or accession numbers. And by autoconverting them, those names are lost, or at least, obscured.
https://bmcbioinformatics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2105-5-80
Researchers have been aware of this issue since at least 2004, when the first report was published in BMC Bioinformatics. In 2016, Mark Ziemann of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues revisited the problem, reporting in Genome Biology that 704 of 3,597 papers from 18 journals that contained gene lists in Excel format contained mangled gene names. That’s nearly one in five. An independent analysis by the editors of Nature Genetics obtained similar results. Fake news site The Allium summed up the problem admirably, writing, “Scientific community capitulates to Microsoft, officially changes all gene names to dates.”
Excel “tries to be helpful but makes the wrong choice and ends up corrupting the data,” Welsh says. “And this can be silent. And there’s no way to properly turn these smart features off.” (It is possible, on a column-by-column basis, to manually control how Excel treats spreadsheets in some cases, he notes.)
Several years ago, Welsh found a workaround online. As it turns out, Excel will ignore text that is embedded in an equation. He encoded that solution in a program called ‘Escape Excel,’ and posted a preprint describing the tool on bioRxiv on 27 January. (ETA: That manuscript was published 27 September in PLOS ONE; it is available here.) The abstract has been read over 2,800 times, according to coauthor Paul Stewart.
Welsh explains the name thusly: “In computer terms, an ‘escape sequence’ is something you put in front of text to keep software from interpreting that text as something other than what you intended it to be.” Executed from the command line or the Galaxy bioinformatics environment, Escape Excel scans tab-delimited text files – a format popular in bioinformatics – for sequences likely to be mangled by Excel, and converts those values into equations, outputting a new datafile that can be safely opened.
Few dyed-in-the-wool computational biologists would bother to do so, of course; they can extract and manipulate the data programmatically using languages like R and Python. But most biologists aren’t fluent in those languages, and Excel is ubiquitous, says Stewart, a postdoc at Moffitt who developed Escape Excel’s Galaxy implementation. “Excel is and still can be a useful tool,” he says.
The fact of the matter is, says Jennifer Bryan, an associate professor of statistics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (currently on leave as a developer at RStudio), researchers need some way to view and sort tabular data. Lightweight alternatives to Excel have been developed, including Comma Chameleon and TableTool. But none is really ready for prime time, Bryan says. Google Sheets can also open tab-delimited files without name-mangling, but it is web-based, and can be relatively slow when handling very large tables.
Ideally, Bryan says, biologists would wean themselves off Excel with bioinformatics training. And funding agencies would sponsor the development of tools to fill the gap. “This is the equivalent of building sewers and highways, but for science,” she says. “These are really unsexy, important projects, and this is what your government should be helping you build.”
That that isn’t happening clearly frustrates the bioinformatics community. Upon hearing the news about Escape Excel, Bryan echoed many when she tweeted, “I applaud the effort to do [something] about this problem, but this is what it sounds like when genomics cries for help.”
9 October 2017: This post has been updated to reflect the publication of the Escape Excel manuscript in PLOS ONE.
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Communications Equipment Operators, All Other
All communications equipment operators not listed separately.
Employed: 3,600
Growth: -12%
Classification: Major: Office and Administrative Support Occupations
Minor: Communications Equipment Operators
Investigative ? 2.6 ?
Enterprising ? 2.6 ?
*selected career rating for: Communications Equipment Operators, All Other
Interests: Communications Equipment Operators, All Other
41 Investigative People with Investigative interests like work activities that have to do with ideas and thinking more than with physical activity. They like to search for facts and figure out problems mentally rather than to persuade or lead people.
41 Enterprising People with Enterprising interests like work activities that have to do with starting up and carrying out projects, especially business ventures. They like persuading and leading people and making decisions. They like taking risks for profit. These people prefer action rather than thought.
20 Artistic People with Artistic interests like work activities that deal with the artistic side of things, such as forms, designs, and patterns. They like self-expression in their work. They prefer settings where work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
Styles: Communications Equipment Operators, All Other
Values: Communications Equipment Operators, All Other
Knowledge: Communications Equipment Operators, All Other
14 Transportation Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
14 Medicine and Dentistry Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
13 Design Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
11 Engineering and Technology Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
10 Philosophy and Theology Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
10 Chemistry Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal m
10 Therapy and Counseling Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
7 Foreign Language Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Skills: Communications Equipment Operators, All Other
32 Troubleshooting Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
25 Operation and Control Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
22 Equipment Maintenance Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
16 Operation Monitoring Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
15 Science Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
13 Repairing Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
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